Geniuses of Hard Work
by froznfox72
Summary: Might Guy trades Neji and Tenten to take Naruto and Hinata on his team. Can he take this group of misfits and turn them into a team of geniuses...or will he be forced to give up wearing spandex forever? Naruhina LeexAyame
1. The Trade

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_Prologue: The Trade_

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Disclaimer - I do not own Naruto or any other works I use in this story.

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Night had long since fallen on the village of Konoha. Most of the village had shut their lights off and went to bed by now. However, one light still burned bright in the village. The Hokage and Iruka sat awake, albeit barely in Iruka's case, in the old man's office. Some people would wonder why the two would still be awake at such a late hour. The reason was actually quite simple

Hatake Kakashi.

The man was late…again. Iruka knew that the chunin they sent to get him may have had to wake him up but it still shouldn't have taken nearly this long for the man to get ready and be on his way. They wouldn't have needed him at all if Iruka hadn't needed to change the teams.

He had just recently given Naruto his headband, making the boy an official shinobi. While he had done so gladly at the time he was regretting it at the moment. Finding Naruto a team had been easy, he just made the mistake of throwing him in the group with a chronically late sensei, who they happened to need permission from before they changed his team.

Not that Iruka was sure the Hokage really needed permission for anything, but it was still courteous to let the man know of his new arrangement. At least that's what Iruka would have thought even an hour and a half ago. Now he was just tired and about fed up with waiting for him. Not to mention he was still covered in cuts and bruises from his scrap with Mizuki. Yeah, all the big stuff had been healed but he still felt particularly sore.

Looking at the Hokage he noticed that the man's elderly face didn't seem at all tired or even all that anxious about the tardiness of one of his Shinobi. He just sat there going about his paperwork. Iruka was about to inquire as to why he seemed so content with this clear showing of disrespect when a loud pop happened right next to him. Following the pop was a cloud of smoke of which, the current object of Iruka's contempt stepped out of.

"Yo." The man waved held one hand in the air as he spoke lazily.

The Hokage smiled "Good to see you Kakashi, what kept you this time?"

Kakashi shrugged "You know, had to rescue a tree from a cat…wait." Kakashi paused and seemed to think about it for a minute, much to Iruka's chagrin. Iruka decided to give a small cough to alert the jonin of his presence. Kakashi turned slowly and looked at Iruka steadily with his one eye. Something about that unnerved the Chunin a little. This stare-off continued thirty seconds until Kakashi's one visible eye appeared to smile at him. "Sorry, I didn't even see you there."

Iruka wanted to retort with slander of some sort but stopped. The man was here. Might as well just end things fast. He could finally get this whole thing over with and get some well deserved rest. With that thought in mind, he hurriedly pulled out a sheet of paper.

"There was a change to the teams, Uzumaki Naruto has been swapped into your group."

At least that was what he intended to say. Instead the only thing heard was the door being kicked in and a voice loud enough to wake half the village.

"Dynamic Entry!" The Green Beast, otherwise known as Might Guy leapt into the office.

When he landed he took a sweep of the room but his eyes stopped when he caught sight of the hair that defied gravity itself. "Ah my youthful rival, Kakashi! I see your flame burns bright this night as well! Tell me, my friend. What brings you to this place at this untimely hour?" Guy's assault of words was spoken in just as booming a voice as when he first entered and Iruka felt like plugging his ears. Instead he let out what sounded like a whimper, dropped the paper and slid down into his seat. Defeated.

"Oh, Guy, when did you get here?" Kakashi said with disinterest and his nose deep in a bright orange book.

"Damn!" Guy shouted throwing his hands in the air "I can't stand that hip attitude of yours! It drives me insane! If it were not three in the morning I would challenge you to youthful combat! Alas, even I need to recharge my battery at night!"

Several thoughts came to Iruka at once. The first pondered on if there was a volume switch for this man. Seriously, did the man ever stop shouting? Another thought was much more horrifying. If this was what the man was like on low energy, he never wanted to see him fully charged. Third but definitely not a thought to disregard was the spandex clad man's purpose in being here. Surely it was some form of divine punishment. Which led him to wonder what he did to deserve it. As this train of wonder kept on going, so did Guy's voice.

However, Guy paused his rant as he took note of the paper Iruka had dropped to the floor, in the blink of an eye he snatched it up and was reading through it's contents. "Hmm…taking on a genin team, aye Kakashi? Might as well fail them now, none of them could compete with my Lee!" Kakashi continued to ignore him and read his book. Undeterred, Guy continued "Although I've heard of this Uzumaki Naruto. He sounds most youthful, it is a shame it is channeled into things such as pranks. Under the proper guidance he could light a flame of youth so bright even the sun would seem just a flicker!"

"Then how about a trade. You take Naruto and I'll take that Hyuga genius off your hands." Iruka's head suddenly snapped up, staring wide eyed at Kakashi, the comment clearly breaking him of his depressed train of thoughts. Guy himself rubbed his chin thoughtfully. The Hokage sat in his chair, his expression had yet to change since Kakashi entered.

The one-eyed Jonin hadn't even pulled his face out of the book as he spoke. He took the silence as a chance to add more. "If you are afraid of not being able to study more about the Jyuken style than I have a solution. There was also a Hyuga in this graduating class. The Heiress, in fact. Give me the female on your team and you can have her too."

Guy's shiny smile seemed to make the room even brighter. It was true. He had been worried about losing insight on the Jyuken, but he would never admit it. The Gentle Fist fascinated him and he would be damned if he lost a way to study it. Guy was also no fool. He knew that even though she was the heiress, she was the black sheep of the clan. While most Hyuuga stood tall and arrogant she walked hunched and meekly. But that in itself was a plus. Between him, Lee, and maybe even this Naruto, they could bring her out of that and make her much more youthful than her older cousin. It was decided. "I accept Kakashi…but what do you say? Why don't we make this more interesting?"

Kakashi for the first time looked up from his book but before he could inquire as to what Guy meant Iruka interrupted. "You can't be serious?" He sounded exasperated. "You can't simply trade teams, especially, with a group that's been together for a whole year now! It just can't be done!" He looked to the Hokage for support but to his horror saw a gleam in the elderly man's eye.

All five eyes were now on him. After a drag on his pipe and a long blow he spoke. "I would like to hear the rest of what Guy has to say." If possible Guy's smile got bigger while Iruka's mouth seemed to hit the floor.

"A bet." Guy continued. "The team that does better in the upcoming chunin exams is the winner of the bet, simple as the that. As for the stakes…you will finally show me what is behind that mask!" Guy shouted the last bit and again Iruka was sure half the village was awake now.

"You have to give up spandex." Was Kakashi's quick retort. "For Life." He add as an afterthought. Guy seemed to pale at the terms but it went away almost as fast as it appeared. He apparently had little doubt of failure.

"Looks like we got a deal then!" They both turned to the Hokage. Guy bowed to nearly a ninety degree angle before speaking again. "I would be honored if you would arrange this for us, Hokage-sama!"

The Hokage looked thoughtful for a minute. Guy seemed to be sweating profusely from his position but refused to stand up straight. Iruka chewed on his nails nervously. Kakashi looked as calm and uninterested as ever.

Finally, the Hokage spoke. "I'll accept to it on a few terms" Guy shot up straight so fast the Hokage felt his own back ache, if only he could somehow draw on his flames of youth. "Firstly, you are both required to have your teams participate in D-rank missions for at least two weeks. Next, I want this to be explained to the teams in a way as not to upset them. I don't care what you say but I want no hard feelings between you and your students. Finally, take great care of Naruto's secret. He just became aware of it tonight. As his sensei, help him out in anyway you can to make sure he knows you see him for who he is. That is all."

The last two had been directed at Guy. He knew it wouldn't be hard for his team to part though. His other two students just didn't have the youth Lee and himself seemed to exhume. He had hoped with time that they would show more passion but Neji remained cold and uncaring. Tenten was a kind enough student but was always more focused on sharpening her weapons and training with Neji than working out with them. Not that she could have kept up anyway. It was heartbreaking to admit but it seemed as almost two different teams had formed within Team Guy. This was not something Guy intended to let happen again. Guy was also well prepared for the third term. He saw the looks the boy was given. The fact that he turned out the way he did spoke volumes of the flames of youth he harbored. Guy had nothing but respect for the poor boy.

The Hokage just then continued with instructions for the two. "Guy, you and Lee are to go pick up Naruto and Hinata a day from now. They have tomorrow off. I'll leave it to you Kakashi as to where you want to meet your new students. Just be sure to pick up Sasuke at the Academy. And try to be on time." The Hokage knew it was a lost cause, but hey, he tried. With nothing else to say the two bowed and turned to leave.

As Guy took a step towards the door he tripped over something. Three sets of eyes looked down to realize that one Umino Iruka had fainted, probably when the Hokage had agreed to the arrangement. The Hokage only chuckled as he asked Guy to take him to the hospital for him. Guy nodded his acceptance. He picked the man up, slung him over his shoulder and was on his way with blazing speed. Kakashi than disappeared in a poof of smoke, just as he had come.

The Hokage finally leaned back in his chair. He felt more his age now that they were gone. He needed to start hanging around young people more. He chucked. Just what he needed, more of Guy's youthful speeches. At least Naruto should be enough of a handful for Guy for awhile. If not the other way around. He chuckled some more. He looked down at the rest of the team sheets. He would have to arrange them some more for Iruka. Fortunately, it wouldn't be hard, there happened to be just one easy fix. The Hokage stood up and all his bones in his body cracked. He walked over to the door and shut the light off. It had been a long night.

At least it promised for interesting things in the future.


	2. Introductions

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_Introductions  
_

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Naruto was irritated. He had been having such a good day. He had made it to the Academy _on time_. That would be the first and last time that ever happened. Naruto had thought he had been having a pretty lucky streak until now. Someone had finally accepted him, he became a ninja, a step closer to his goal of Hokage, hell, he even got to teach the old man's grand kid a perverted jutsu yesterday. So naturally he figured his luck had turned around.

Only to turn around and be completely shut down by Sakura. But that was no problem. He was used to that. He was also quite upset when Sakura and him hadn't been put in the same team. It did help that she looked just as dejected when not put in a team with Sasuke. Instead she had left with Shino and Kiba and some female jonin who had long black hair. Again, this wasn't the point of his concern. It also wasn't the fact that Sasuke and he had done something unspeakable.

They had _kissed._

Naruto shuddered even thinking about it. He didn't even care when all the girls had thrashed him. Once again, this wasn't the current cause of his irritable mood.

No, the problem was when they got called off into teams he hadn't been put in one at all. Naruto wanted to know what the hell was going on. He was in the room with just Iruka-Sensei, Sasuke, and Hinata. It made him feel better that at least they looked as confused as he was.

In fact, Hinata happened to be just as confused as Naruto. She hoped that the fact that the three of them were the only genin left in the room meant that they were on a team but something seemed off. Maybe they weren't made ninja after all and were being sent back. Maybe they would be told to quit altogether. Hinata could understand if they told her that, but not Naruto. He worked so hard and didn't deserve something like that. Surely he would find some way to overcome it though. She thought all this while shyly staring at the boy of her affections who was obviously miffed.

Iruka had one big headache. All the medicine and healing ninjutsu in the world wouldn't be enough to get rid of this one. He couldn't believe he had to do this. Thankfully Naruto was quietly fuming at the moment, but that wouldn't last for too long. He had to say something and then make a break for it.

"Naruto, Hinata." He started, earning both of their undivided attention now. "You are both to be placed together on a team with another student who graduated a year before you." Before he could continue he was interrupted by none other than the boy he was addressing.

"What the hell is this? Why are we being placed with someone not from our class?" Before Iruka could explain even Sasuke voiced up.

"That doesn't explain what is going to happen to me, am I to be on a team by myself?" Iruka couldn't help but notice the hint of hope in the sole surviving Uchiha's voice.

Iruka rubbed his temples. Thank god this was it for awhile. "The two are actually related. Sasuke you are to be taken by the other Genin's teammates to meet with a new Sensei for all of you."

As he said this a girl with twin buns and a pink Chinese garb knocked and walked in. Smiling politely she announce that she was there for Sasuke. Said boy got up and ambled over to the girl. As they walked out Iruka heard something about chronically late sensei. Knowing if he had any hope for his head ever recovering Iruka left too after wishing the remaining two students good luck.

They were going to need it.

To say Hinata felt relieved was an understatement. Not only was she still going to become a ninja but she was now on the same team as Naruto. Nothing could have brought her down from this. Not even the disapproving glare that she received from her father. Which happened all too often.

"So what do you think our teammate and Sensei will be like?"

Hinata gave a squeak and jumped away from the unexpectedly close voice. Naruto looked started by her outburst but his face then settled on what looked like an apologetic glance.

Now he thinks I'm a scared, weak girl she mused remorsefully. Why did she have to be so jumpy around him? "Umm…I'm sure t-they are great n-ninja. I a-am interested to meet o-our teammate as well." As she spoke she silently cursed her stutter.

She summed up the courage to say more just when the door was kicked in and the glass on one of the windows shattered. Flying in from both ends were similar looking men. Both of them clad in green spandex that made Hinata blush a little. The matching bowl cuts and thick bushes that appeared to be eyebrows weren't helping their appearance.

"Uzumaki Naruto!"

"Hyuuga Hinata!"

The names were shouted at the same time, Naruto's by the older and hers by the younger. And to her amazement she watch as they took odd poses and started introductions.

"My name is Rock Lee! I am pleased to meet my new teammates! May we share many youthful moments together!"

"Might Guy is my name but you may call me Guy-sensei! I am your Jonin instructor and cannot wait to kindle your flames of youth!"

Naruto was speechless. That was a definite first. He had been so surprised that he had drawn a kunai. He now stood on his desk in a sloppy battle stance but he could do nothing but open and close his mouth as he watched the performance. The kunai in his hand was long forgotten. "Someone please tell me this is a joke." He all but whispered as they finished. First off, he was stuck with a quiet, weird girl and now two obnoxious psychopaths.

The "psychopath" with a Chunin vest also happened to have good hearing. "This is no joke Naruto! Be prepared to be taught in the most youthful way possible! It begins now! Meet us at training ground three!" Just as he said it, they both disappeared in a green blur. Naruto couldn't believe it.

"Damn, that was fast!" Naruto's face suddenly lit up. "If they can teach me to do that then this might not be so bad!" Naruto quickly jumped down from the desk he was standing on and rushed out the window after them.

Hinata looked around in shock in the now empty room. Then she slowly lowered her head sadly.

They had left her behind.

"Uhh...Hinata." She looked up in surprise to see Naruto leaning inside the window, scratching his head. "Where is training ground three again?"

Hinata felt herself smile involuntarily. "I-I'll show you." She got up and quickly began to descend the steps.

"You're the best, Hinata!" The Hyuga Heiress stumbled after Naruto's words processed in her mind. She managed to keep from falling but a huge blush painted her face for a long time afterward.

* * *

Lee arrived at the training ground just behind his Sensei. He had put on the show his Sensei expected but he was torn. Lee did not know how to feel about this. It had been such a bombshell. They all met up at seven in the morning like usual, after he and his Sensei's five o'clock training, just for Guy-sensei to tell them they would no longer be a team.

Lee didn't like Neji but he was his eternal rival. What was Lee to do without him to challenge every day? Neji of course took the news coolly. He had thanked Sensei for everything and just took it at that. He didn't even protest.

Tenten at least was tearful. She had asked if it was because Guy was disappointed in them in some way. Guy had assured them that he wasn't and that sometimes teams just had to split up. The team had eaten one last meal together after training before Tenten had given him and Sensei a wet hug before promising to keep in touch. Things were changing too fast and all at once.

Lee didn't like it.

Guy-sensei promised him though that he would come to like these new teammates of his. He said Naruto was much like himself and suffered a hard past. Hinata was meanwhile a sweet, innocent version of her cousin. Not that it made her any less deadly. At least, that's what Lee figured. What's done is done Lee concluded as Naruto and Hinata slid into the clearing. He would make the best of this for Guy-sensei. Not to mention for himself.

Naruto really couldn't believe it. These guys were like lightning. He hadn't seen them at all while trying to catch up and when he arrived at the training ground it looked like they had been there for at least a minute. They stood straight and tall and had apparently caught their breath. They were real Shinobi. He was going to learn how to do that now.

"What jutsu did you guys use to make you do that?" He said walking toward them, trying to mask his heavy breathing.

Guy let out a boisterous laugh that made Naruto flinch slightly. "We did not use any kind of jutsu, Naruto!"

"Then how did you move so fast?" The blond asked, his breathing already recovered.

"Simple, my young student!" Guy's voice rang across the whole clearing as he pulled out a two strange objects. "We used these!"

"That's so awesome! Hey, Hey, What are those Sensei?" Naruto was about to burst with excitement.

With a laugh Guy explained. "These are weights, Naruto."

Naruto's excitement disappeared and a frown appeared on his face at Guy's answer. "How are those supposed to help me get faster? They only sound like they're gonna slow me down."

Lee cleared his throat to answer but Guy stuck out his arm to silence him. "I think I see a look of understanding in Hinata." Guy observed.

Hinata gave a squeak and ducked her head. She was blushing furiously now. She was hoping no one would point her out since she still hadn't recovered her breath. How had her teammates done it so quickly? When she tilted her head up, Naruto and Guy were looking at her expectantly. "Umm, well, I-I think if y-you run with the increased w-weight for awhile, you build up better endurance. That way, when you take them off you feel lighter and are able to move faster." By the time she finished she had been speaking in little more than a whisper but Naruto had managed to catch it all. Somehow.

He began to nod his head quickly. "Yeah, I get it, that's sweet. Give me all the weights you got Sensei!" Naruto said turning back to the green clad man.

"Naruto…" Naruto felt an involuntary shiver at his sensei's tone. "You should be considerate of your teammate. She will need some too. She is an invaluable asset to us now. As are you of course. We must all work towards a common goal." Guy chided.

"Umm…g-goal?" Hinata managed to squeak out.

"Yes!" Guy shouted, his loud voice returned. "I shall strive to make all of you geniuses of hard work!" Naruto and Hinata shared a confused look. Without needing a prompt Guy jumped into his explanation.

"Geniuses are those born with natural talent. They hardly have to try and they succeed with ease. Sasuke in your class and Hinata's cousin and my former student Neji are considered geniuses." A scowl formed on Naruto's face at the mention of Sasuke while Hinata's lit up in realization. "Geniuses of hard work however aren't as lucky. We have to work hard, train day in and day out to become the best we can be. In the end though it is worth it. We come out stronger because of our hardships and we stand above those who don't suffer the way we had to! We may not be as strong at first but in the end we are superior! What you do with this new found strength is up to you. However, I trust you to use it wisely."

Guy shouted this last bit with his fist in the air and a leg up on some log that hadn't been there a moment ago.

When he looked at Naruto and Hinata he saw what he wanted. There was determination. Even the shy Hyuga had appeared moved and he knew there was more than hope for her now. He would make them the best. Together with Lee, they would be an unstoppable force. It was too bad he still had one more test before they could truly become a team. Guy continued in a not as passionate shout " and so...we will begin by evaluating your skills!"

"How are we gonna do that Sensei?" Naruto asked with his hand held high in the air.

"Glad you asked! You are both going to spar against Lee! Your goal is to beat him using your flames of youth!" Naruto was about to ask what he meant by flames of youth but decided against it, one passionate speech a day was his limit. "Okay then, settle into your stances. Remember, aim to kill and hold nothing back! You won't be able to beat Lee any other way."

Any questions Naruto had died at the sound of a challenge. He licked his lips. This was going to be good. Hinata didn't know how to react. The only thought in her head was how everyone was going to see what a failure she was.

The three genin settled into their respective fighting stances, Hinata activating her Byakugan before doing so. Guy quickly saw the flaws in Naruto's stance. Not that they were hard to miss. It looked to Guy like the boy had never been shown a proper stance in his life. Which wouldn't have been a big surprise either. Hinata on the other hand showed perfection. He began to ponder how she could be disregarded by her clan with such a flawless stance but decided to wait until seeing more to judge. After all, he wasn't a hasty man.

"I should mention one more thing. If you fail to win, I'll have to send you both back to the academy." Guy laughed as Naruto and Hinata both turned to him in shock.

"What?" Naruto yelled. That wasn't part of the bargain. He was supposed to have been out for sure. He had gone through too much to have this man tell him he would be going back.

Guy smiled but didn't say anything more as he raised his arm in the air, he watched his Genin tense. With a big intake of breath he let his arm drop and boomed,

"Ready, Go!"

Naruto was off like a rocket, he was going to end this quick.

He couldn't afford to be sent back.

Lee had been caught off guard by Naruto's lack of hesitation and nearly didn't block a left hook aimed at the side of his head. Lee returned the punch but Naruto stepped back to avoid it. Naruto than jumped forward and launched a high kick at Lee who blocked again. Spinning quickly with the force of the blow, Lee sent a kick at Naruto's midsection.

Grinning, Naruto blocked it…

...only to be launched backwards into a tree about twenty yards away.

Hinata stopped short. She had nearly been to Lee when he sent Naruto flying. Poor Naruto. She had planned to send a Jyuken into Lee's back but her slight hesitation gave him enough time to notice her. He quickly settled into what Hinata noted as a defensive stance. Of course, she realized, Lee was aware of her special attacks and was thus wary to be the one to approach. Taking a breath to steady herself she inched closer. When Lee gave no reaction she jumped at him.

Lee noticed the movement and sprung backwards. Hinata pressed forward. Swinging her Jyuken steadily and fluidly. Just as she thought she might connect he disappeared and was coming at her from the right now. Hinata ducked left of the punch at her face. Lee spun quickly again aiming the same kick he had at Naruto.

Hinata was prepared though. She bent almost completely backwards, dodging the powerful kick. She brought herself up quick and aimed a palm thrust at Lee's stomach. What she hadn't anticipated was Lee's elbow to completely deflect her blow, sending her chakra pointlessly into the air. Lee then proceeded to bring his knee up into Hinata's stomach knocking the wind out of her and sending her rolling several feet away where she lay completely still for several seconds.

It wasn't pain that caused her to stay on the ground but shock. Finally, she started to move. Slowly but surely she climbed to her feet while nursing her stomach. How could this happen? She had failed miserably, having a strike like that deflected. She could only take comfort in that Naruto had been sent flying too, but regretted the thought instantly.

She had no more time for moping as Lee was on her again, his hesitation forgotten, swinging crazy kicks and swift punches. It was all Hinata could do to deflect or dodge them. But it was too late, with her confidence shattered, she couldn't fight back and was quickly subdued to a panting mess on the ground.

Lee felt sorry for her. She was clearly nothing like her cousin. She had started off strong but one good move from him and she fell apart. Lee sighed. This new team was definitely going to take some getting used too.

Not that there would be a team if they didn't pull themselves together.

"Damn it all, that really hurt!" Lee heard Naruto shout in the distance. "I didn't want to have to do this to you but you leave me no choice!"

Naruto formed a seal and shouted. "Taju Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!"

Lee felt his eyes blur with orange for a minute as he took in the spectacle. Nearly that whole half of the clearing was filled with clones. He grimaced as they charged and he realized to his amazement that they were all solid.

Guy had not expected this. Hinata's problem became quickly apparent to him. He was going to have to nip this confidence problem fast. Fortunately, Naruto seemed to have plenty to spare. While Guy himself also had confidence leaking off his body, he felt Hinata would take it better from Naruto. After all, her infatuation with him was clear as day.

Naruto clearly had a reason to be confident, Guy had never seen so many clones in his life. Lee was now struggling not to be overwhelmed. Even his precious student had his limits.

Winning became much more possible.

Hinata watched as Lee danced away from the clones. They swung, screamed and kicked at the slightly frightened Genin as he ducked, rolled and threw in a punch wherever he could. But he was not being given a lot of room. However, there were also too many clones coming at once. More often than not the clones ran into each other, popping themselves out of existence. The clones were clearly not coordinated at all and Lee started to gain a small edge.

Rolling clear of two clones as they collided into each other Lee slipped four shuriken out of his back pouch and whipped them into the crowd, dispelling many clones. He then charge forward through the gap the shuriken had just created. Jumping up he delivered a spinning kick into another Naruto who flew into more clones dispelling them all.

"Hinata, can you stand?" One clone said to her. The girl in question wasn't sure or not if she was in heaven or hell. Naruto was all around her and she was sure she was red as a tomato. Not trusting her voice she nodded and slowing stood up. "Guy-sensei was stressing teamwork to me and he's right" Naruto started. "I don't know what you can do but there has got to be something. Bushy Brow over there is dropping my clones left and right." Naruto grimaced as one of his clones was hit in a nasty spot. Asking for help wasn't something he was used too, nor did he like it. However it was clear that there was no way he was going to win this. Lee was starting to gain ground.

"I gotta help out. If you see an opening, take it" Naruto said while running into the fray before Hinata could protest.

Lee was really smiling now. At first he had been scared but this was turning out to be a great workout. Neji had never challenged Lee in a way like this and the clones just seemed to keep coming. Lee felt one latch onto his back. Doing a back flip he snagged the clone by the collar and whipped him at three more clones before landing in another group. With a spinning kick he dispelled eight more. Lee was outright laughing now. This seemed to irk the clones as they attacked with renewed vigor.

It didn't seem to make much difference. Lee quickly fell into a pattern. The more Naruto attacked the more Lee realized it was systematic. One came from the front, followed by two from either side. After Lee rolled backwards a clone was always waiting to intercept him. Lee would jump up from his roll and kick this one with both his feet. Spinning quickly he would punch another clone just in his range. Then the cycle repeated. He kept it up at the same pace for a few minutes. Clone after clone kept coming. Clone after clone kept disappearing.

Just as he thought the number of clones was dying out he turned and threw a punch…

...right into Hinata's outstretched palm.

Lee yelped in pain as he felt his arm go numb. She had seen Lee repeat the same pattern over and over. So she placed herself right where she knew his fist would be. Not wasting the effort Hinata stepped forward and landed another strike in his ribcage. Lee staggered and the clones were on him. Lee was knocked onto the ground.

He was pinned and defeated.

A loud clap echoed across the clearing as the clones began to pop out of existence. "Well done both of you, all of you!" Guy shouted proudly to his students. "I have not seen such a vibrant display of youth in a long time!"

Naruto gave a loud whoop. They had done it. It took a lot of energy and he was sweating profusely but they had really done it. They would not be going back to the academy.

Lee, with the clones off him, rose quickly to his feet and bowed before his Sensei. "Forgive me Guy-sensei, I have failed and shall run five hundred laps around Konoha in a handstand!"

Guy frowned. "Lee, it was due to teamwork that you lost, not any inability. For not understanding this I want you to do one thousand chin-ups with one hand."

"Oh, thank you Guy-sensei!" Lee shouted. "You are always so merciful, I shall get started immediately!" Having said this Lee took off to the nearest place to accomplish his task.

Guy watched him, tears of happiness springing from his eyes. Naruto stared between the two but couldn't figure out what had just happened. Hadn't he just punished Lee? And yet the boy had seemed overjoyed at the thought. He looked to Hinata to see if she understood but he noticed that she had a spacey look and doubted she even knew what had transpired.

Why was he stuck with all the weirdos?

Hinata had indeed not heard a word of anything. She was too stunned. She could never have pulled something like that off before. Yet when Naruto asked her to, she found that failure at that point would have been more than unacceptable, and she had done it. Together with Naruto. It was like all her dreams could come true now. She was brought out of her musing by Guy-sensei's hand on her shoulder.

"I'm proud of both of you." He started. "I have seen a lot we need to work on but fear not, we shall start early tomorrow. Lee and I start training at five in the morning. You are welcome to join us, but if you choose not to I ask that you meet up here at seven."

Naruto couldn't believe it. "Five in the morning?" he asked for clarity

Guy nodded. "Yes, it was necessary to get Lee to where he is today. As I said, he is a genius of hard work. While you may have beat him bear in mind that Lee had his full weights on. As you may have noticed Lee has very weak chakra and thus cannot perform ninjutsu or genjutsu. He is left with merely taijutsu. Even that was in poor shape when I discovered the young, orphaned boy doing extra training. But we have made this a strength to him. While he can not perform a clone he can now punch through solid rock!"

Naruto was miffed that Lee had been such a tough opponent while weighed down. Yet at the same time he now felt an odd level of closeness to him. Here was another Genin like him who couldn't even do a simple clone. They were both even orphans! And now they were both under Guy-sensei's tutelage. Naruto knew right then that this team was right for him. They may have all been weirdos, but then again, wasn't he?

"Now moving onto our attire, while you were sparring I decided the amount of weights you would use without hurting yourselves. Naruto, here are yours and these are yours Hinata." Guy said while handing his students the weights. "Remember to wear these at all times, even while eating and sleeping. Don't take them off unless instructed by myself." He watched as they slipped them on and saw them nod at his instructions.

Naruto's excitement and Hinata's shy smile.

Guy knew it was time. "You are ready!" He shouted, noticing the confused looks between the genin. "Ready to wear the most fashionable set of clothes in ninja history!" As he shouted he whipped out two smaller versions of the spandex suits worn by Lee and himself.

Hinata couldn't help it.

She visibly blanched.

There was no way she was getting in _that_, and she could only take comfort that Naruto must be feeling the same way. Looking over her face fell in completely horror.

Naruto was looking at the spandex akin to how he gazed at Sakura.

Hinata wasn't one to be about looks, since she wasn't much to look at, but she knew liking Naruto the way she did would be much harder if the boy was in that suit. She had to end this fast, but could she bring up the courage to tell her crush she didn't think he would look good in it? Would he even care?

Stealing her resolve Hinata spoke "Umm…I-I d-don't think I could b-be seen in something like t-that." Hinata started carefully. Naruto had now turned his eyes to her in disbelief. Hinata pressed on anyways. "I-it would be frowned upon by my father if I returned dressed in…_that._" Hinata didn't have a better word for it. "I apologize if I offend you by refusing but I cannot accept it." Hinata bowed politely when she finished.

Guy for his part only nodded thoughtfully.

This time Naruto cleared his throat. "I guess I can't accept either Sensei. I wouldn't want to make Hinata feel left out in the group. It could, well you know, hurt teamwork...or something." Naruto didn't know why he did it. That outfit looked so cool there, blowing in the wind. No, don't look at it, must resist. Naruto also didn't expect Guy's reaction. The man broke into a smile too big for his face and too bright to not have been from the effect of some kind of light jutsu.

"Ah, Naruto! You learn so quickly. I am not at all hurt by your rejection but am proud to see that you have taken what you've learned to heart!" Naruto felt himself flush at Guy's praise. "That is all for today, Hinata, enjoy the rest of your day. Naruto, come and walk with me. We have things to discuss." Now Naruto gulped as Hinata gave him a worried look. "Fear not, you have not done anything wrong, I just have some advice to part onto you."

Naruto nodded and turned to Hinata. "I don't know about you but I'll definitely be here at five. I can't afford to fall behind you and Bushy Brow!" He said enthusiastically.

Hinata nodded quickly, her face once again red. "I-I will also be here at five." She just couldn't pass up the opportunity to be with him. No matter how early. Naruto and Guy smiled at her before she turned around and began the walk home. She still couldn't believe the good luck of being on Naruto's team, she would just have to make sure he kept away from that spandex. She didn't know what to make of Guy-sensei and Lee yet. They were...different. And yet they seemed so much like Naruto-kun. So she supposed she could really get to like them.

She was stuck with them after all.

Guy watched her walk awhile, his smile still big and bright. Naruto considered asking him how he did that when the man turned to him, his expression suddenly grim. He had obviously waited for Hinata to get out of earshot. "I wanted to discuss something serious with you Naruto."

Naruto couldn't help it.

He gulped.

The seriousness on the man's face was uncharacteristic. Naruto wondered where it came from. Maybe the man was better at faking his smiles than even himself.

"W-what do you mean?" Damn, he was picking up Hinata's stuttering habit. He was going to have to turn that around.

"Tell me Naruto, what is your dream?".

Naruto sighed with relief. This was easy. "You mean you haven't heard? I am going to become the greatest Hokage this village has ever had! That way no one will be able to look down on me and disrespect me anymore!"

"So you want people to see you as yourself and not the fox?" Naruto was pulled out of his dreamland at the mention of the thing that ruined his life. His face grew much more serious.

"Being Hokage is the only way to get them to realize I want to protect them, not destroy them. It is the only way to truly become me." Naruto said. An oddly dark look settled on his face.

"That is not true Naruto. What of Iruka? What of myself? We see you as you, not the fox." Naruto looked surprised when Guy included himself but Guy continued before he could interrupt him. "I guarantee you Lee and Hinata will also see you as who you are when they find out the truth."

"They won't find out." Naruto said quickly. "I'll never let it happen! What if you're wrong? I would lose the team I just finally got!. That really slows down my Hokage plans!" Naruto was shouting now.

"I'm just saying be prepared for possibility of them finding out. Missions are dangerous. You never know when it's chakra may show itself." Guy said, still calm. "Besides Naruto, don't fear, I will never let this team fall apart. We are inseparable from today onwards." Naruto's look of shock returned only to be replaced by what appeared to be teared happiness.

Guy couldn't stand being this serious, time to be more youthful. "So remember Naruto! I expect to see your fire burning bright tomorrow morning! Lee and I will not take it easy on you!" His big, bright smile returned.

Naruto wiped his eyes and matched Guy with a smile just as big. "Don't worry, I'll have you and Lee run ragged in no time. My flame will drown out the sun's on my way to become Hokage!" After saying this Naruto swore he felt his own smile start to glow slightly.

That was definitely something to look into.

* * *

It was late at night again. Guy now stood atop a water tower in a handstand while waiting for his youthful, chronically late rival. It had been two and a half hours so it had to be about time. As expected, Kakashi popped up in the smaller tower next to him, his nose deep in his book.

"My eternal rival! Tell me what you thought of my old charges!" Guy boomed while jumping back into a normal standing position.

Kakashi summed it up quickly, apparently eager to be gone. "It went well. I was particularly surprised by the girl's accuracy. The Hyuga kid is also astounding. With them so far ahead it will be easy for me to focus on Sasuke. The only thing I'm concerned about is that Hyuga boy's temper."

Guy frowned at this. "What do you mean?"

"The kid shut down Sasuke's Tenketsu when he made a remark about him being a lowly branch member of a clan. The girl had been friendly enough at first but that comment seemed to set her on edge too. Teamwork is going to be the toughest part in a group of geniuses." Kakashi sighed out the last bit.

Guy nodded. He knew of Neji's complex. But to beat the Uchiha survivor to a pulp was taking it far. They would just have to work it out themselves. They weren't his to help anymore after all. But something was still bugging him about what Kakashi had said. "Did you really just want to trade so you could focus on Sasuke?"

"Being able to focus on teaching him how to properly use his sharingan was part of it, but not the only reason." Kakashi kept his nose in the bright orange book.

Guy stared hard at the man for a moment. It would seem Kakashi wasn't telling him everything, but Guy found it impossible to read him.

"So what about you?" Kakashi asked, ripping Guy from his thoughts.

Standing up straight, Guy took a deep breath. "It's going to be fantastic to finally know what is behind that mask!"


	3. Morning Training

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_Morning Training_

* * *

"Crap!" Naruto shouted while sprinting through the village.

He was late.

Not that this was unusual, but he actually wanted to be on time for his new team. After all, he told them he would willingly do it. He even made sure Hinata was coming.

The training ground came into sight and with a final burst of speed and the help of a little chakra, Naruto rocketed into the clearing. He skidded to a halt just in front of his Sensei and teammates with mixed reactions.

Hinata had the decency to be embarrassed for him. Lee actually looked visibly sick, like the thought of missing even a second of training was blasphemous. Guy's smile was definitely unexpected. Then again, maybe not. He was always smiling.

"Naruto!" Guy's voice seemed even louder so early in the morning. "It brings joy my heart to see your youth burning so brightly in the morning! It even takes Lee a few morning stretches before he can move that fast!"

"Err…but I'm late." Naruto began rather lamely.

"Not a problem!" Guy stopped Naruto before he could continue. "I think we can forgive you this once. Just don't make a habit of it. Punctuality is important after all!"

Naruto began to wonder if his Sensei cared at all that he was most likely waking people up. Probably not, the eccentric man probably thought of it as doing them a youthful favor.

"Now let's get started with the training. Naruto, I would like you to work with Lee on your taijutsu stance. Listen well to what he says. He isn't called a genius of hard work for nothing. Hinata and I shall be working over here. We will trade off in about an hour."

"This way Naruto." Lee gestured the blond to the far side of the field and started walking there himself.

Naruto had been right. Lee was not having a good morning. Why couldn't it be the same? The mornings when it was just him and Guy-sensei doing handstands around the village or scaling the Hokage Monument with their weights doubled. These new guys had also been given weights. Weights were his thing. Why couldn't they have been like Neji and Tenten? At least they hadn't come wearing spandex.

That would've been too much.

Thinking of Neji reminded Lee of what Hinata did this morning. She was so much different than her cousin. She had come in even before Lee had and had only mumbled a quiet "hello" that had been completely covered by Guy's greeting. The only reason he knew she said anything at all was the fact that her mouth had moved. That didn't upset Lee though. That would've been silly.

Guy-sensei had frowned when Naruto hadn't shown up on time. "I guess we should get started without him." He had then turned to them to explain the morning when…

...Hinata interrupted him.

It hadn't been much. Just a quiet and hasty "W-wait." But Guy-sensei looked so surprised that she had spoken out that he let her continue.

"Umm…I think we should wait for Naruto-kun. He will definitely be here soon." In that last sentence she actually sounded sure of herself.

Lee was abashed. Had she really just told Guy-sensei to wait on training? Even more to his astonishment, Guy-sensei listened. He was even smiling. Like her speaking out had been some small victory. It only made Lee feel worse when Guy's smile grew bigger as Naruto shot into the training ground.

"Earth to Bushy-Brow." Naruto said waving his hand in Lee's face.

Lee slapped it away. "What is it?" He snapped before quickly regretting it. This was a most unyouthful showing he was giving. Looking around, Lee realized they were where Guy-sensei instructed them to be.

Naruto got an annoyed look on his face. "Don't yell at me. You were staring off into space since we got here, I thought Sensei told you to help me with my stance."

"Get in it then." Lee said before Naruto could go further. He waited but Naruto only stared at Lee, confused. "Your fighting stance." Lee sighed.

Recognition dawned on Naruto as he proudly slipped into it. "Got'cha, why didn't you say so in the first place? So, what's wrong with it?"

"Everything." Naruto lost his balance.

He got up quickly while sputtering questions. "What the hell do you mean everything? Wasn't I doing fine yesterday like that? Are you just upset Guy-sensei had you work with me instead of you?"

"Enough" Lee finally shouted. "Look, I am sorry about before. I am a little upset with the way I suddenly lost two of my teammates but please listen to me. I did not say that everything was wrong to be mean. Everything _was_ wrong though. Please reenter the stance and I will help you."

Naruto stared at Lee for a second. He definitely seemed sincere. Maybe he was also being a little out of line. Lee knew what he was doing after all. The whipping he gave his clones was proof of that. "I'm sorry too. I just say things without thinking. I'm glad that you're helping me." Having said that Naruto slipped back into his fighting stance.

"Okay, first bring your legs closer together, you are standing too wide. Yeah, that is good. Bring this arm down here, right in front of you. Now, stick this one out. Do not grip so hard, you will only hurt yourself when you punch." As Lee droned out his instructions he moved around Naruto, pointing to his flaws, moving him slightly when necessary, and showing him his own stance. "Okay, that is good. Now hold it there for a minute or two. Let yourself get comfortable in it."

Naruto did as instructed and without complaints either. Iruka would've cried tears of happiness at this attentive Naruto. The reason for Naruto's silence though was his own shock. A teacher at the academy specifically showed Naruto to stand that way. Naruto might have thought Lee was lying to him if it wasn't for the fact that the more Lee corrected, the more natural Naruto began to feel. Like it was the way it was supposed to be.

"What now?" Naruto asked, still in the stance.

"Good, good, I want you to run a lap around the training ground." Seeing the question forming on Naruto's lips Lee held up his hand. "Trust me, it will help you."

Naruto shrugged. Lee had been right so far. So he took off running. When he got back he looked at Lee expectantly. "Now what, we gonna spar, are you and me gonna race?"

Lee held up with hand again and Naruto fell silent. Lee was going to have to remember that it seemed to work.

"I want you to assume the stance I just showed you." He held up his hand before Naruto's protest even began. Naruto got into it as instructed, mumbling the whole time. Lee watched him intently for a moment before saying "Much better, but you have a couple problems again." Lee pointed the problem spots back out again. "Stand there for another minute. When you are ready take another jog around the training ground. Once you get back, get into your stance. I will correct you again. We will do this until you get it right three times in a row."

Naruto couldn't contain it anymore. "Three times? Why the hell are we doing it like this? Let's just spar and I'll figure it out as w-"

Lee held up his hand. "Be glad it is me and not Guy-sensei you are doing this with. He would have you get it correct a hundred times before he let you move on. You think I like this? I am wasting my youth! I would like to spar and train too. But until you get this right we cannot do that." Lee's voice had gotten louder as he talked.

He had to take a breath. Was this how Neji always felt about him? He regretted the thought. Was he becoming like Neji? Surely not, Neji lacked so much youth. Lee wouldn't let it happen. Naruto ripped him out of his trance when he took off running down the training ground again. Lee was about to shout to him when he noticed Naruto was running the edge of the clearing, just as he had instructed.

Lee continued to give Naruto a curious look as he got back and began to settle into his stance. "You were right." Naruto said without meeting his eyes. "I know I'm making this difficult and you probably want your old team back, but please give me awhile. I've never had someone give me one on one training before so I'm new at it. I'd like us to get along though."

Lee couldn't help it. He got a little teary. What would Guy-sensei say if he saw how low his flame had dimmed today. He had to fix this fast.

Wiping his eyes he gave Naruto his biggest smile. "Yosh! Fear not Naruto. You shall have this down in no time. Our flames shall burn brightly together and we will show the world a sparring match unseen to this world!" That was more like it.

* * *

Guy and Hinata started out much differently than Naruto and Lee had.

"Before we begin I would like to talk about some things." Guy started, looking down at Hinata, who stood straighter when he began talking. Guy waited for her to give a nervous nod before continuing.

"I am not a man to mince words. Some of what I say may seem harsh but I don't mean it to be in such a way. I am trying to help you." Guy had a feeling that Hinata wasn't foreign to harsh words though. A feeling that made him slightly sick to his stomach.

He watched as Hinata nodded again, her posture slouching ever so slightly. "I was your cousin, Neji's sensei just before I was yours. That boy was a true genius. I wouldn't be surprised if he stood higher in strength than your father some day."

Hinata's head whipped up at that last comment. Stronger than father? Did he have any idea the rage her father would've gone into if he heard that? He might activate Neji's seal just on principle. She was about to protest when she noticed the look in Guy's eyes. Hinata knew she wasn't the best at reading people but she knew this look. He was expecting something. Maybe he expected her to be just as strong, he was going to be sorely disappointed.

Guy frowned, but only for a second. This one was perceptive. When she had spoken up against him earlier he had been proud that she had said something. Her confidence was showing its way through. It seemed that confidence came and went with Naruto though. He had a lot of work to do. Might as well let her know, he just said he didn't mince words after all.

Hinata wondered what was with the silence. When she looked back up he was still smiling. "You however…" Here it came, a complete list of her failures as a person and that he was disappointed in her. "...Have major confidence issues, but other than that your stance is nearly perfect. You strike well and know when it is wise to make a retreat."

Hinata again snapped her neck up. It was going to snap right off if she kept doing that. Did she just hear him right? Surely he was confusing her with her younger sister, Hanabi.

Before she had a chance to correct him however, "Hinata, assume your stance. We are going to have a light spar. Come at me with everything you got. Don't feel bad when you can't get me. I am a Jonin after all!" Guy laughed aloud at his attempt of a joke. Hinata couldn't even bring herself to smile nervously. When Guy stopped laughing he continued. "I will only block and dodge. This is about constantly attacking and not losing your nerve. I know you will do me proud!" Done talking, Guy settled into his fighting stance.

He watched Hinata take a few calming breaths before settling herself into her stance. Like last time, it was perfect. How could this girl give herself so little credit? What had that family done to her? Guy mentally shook his head. His youth was better spent fixing what the family destroyed. Not wondering how. Anyways, now wasn't a good time to think.

She was coming.

Hinata charged straight at her Sensei. He brought his elbow up and blocked a Jyuuken strike to side. Just like Lee did last night. She faltered, her eyes lingering on the dissipating chakra.

"Don't look at it! Next attack!" Guy said sternly, since shouting probably wasn't the best thing for her right now. Not that it mattered. Her stance loosened and her attacks lost their ferocity. Guy wanted to tell her stop. But that would just give her time to mope and think about if he was disappointed in her. Then an idea struck him.

Dodging to the right from another poor swing he put it so her back was to Naruto. Now was the time to hatch his plan. "What is Naruto doing watching us? He is wasting his youth by not training as I instructed him!" His idea worked. Hinata stopped and tensed. Then she launched herself back at Guy with attacks more fierce than even her very first.

Guy almost laughed out loud as he jumped over a sweeping kick meant to trip him. The pressure of being watched by her crush was working. Even mentioning his name seemed to tremendously boost her confidence. Now he had to find out how to get her this way all the time. She could be better than Neji if she just had the confidence. In his musing he failed to notice Hinata jump back. But she was charging again anyways.

Guy brought his elbow up to block another attack, only for the attack not to come. A feint! Guy realized with great surprise. He didn't even notice and now she was inside his guard. Normally that kept people from performing powerful attacks but it was just perfect for her Jyuken.

Guy launched himself backwards but it was too late. She landed an open palm right into his stomach. This wasn't his first time getting hit by such an attack and Guy doubted it would be his last. But it always surprised him how much it hurt. He did his best not to grimace outwards and instead showed a huge grin.

Hinata had a look of sheer terror. She couldn't believe she had hit Sensei. She had wanted to apologize but something about his smile stopped her. It was strange. She knew that smile but from where? 'Pride' some part in the back of her mind whispered to her. A look she had only ever seen given to her sister. Sensei was proud of her. How could he be though? She had struck him with her Jyuken.

"You look confused, Hinata. Why is this?" Guy was back to his usual booming voice.

"Sensei, I…umm… I hit you. You aren't upset?" Guy let out a big laugh and he was sure that if Hinata could shrink into her jacket like a turtle, she would've.

"Upset? Don't you remember what I said? I didn't expect you to hit me. This means you've shot passed my expectations. You are truly a worthy student Hinata. If Naruto had actually been watching, he would have been astonished by the brightness of your flame."

The realization of what he said must have set in on her face because Guy was now giving her a look akin to a child who was caught with his hand in a cookie jar. "Had…been watching?" Hinata finally asked.

"Not important." Guy dismissed. "Now get back into you stance. We are going to work on defense."

* * *

It took Naruto nearly forty minutes to get the stance right three times in a row but he had done it.

"Finally!" Naruto yawned out. He almost forgot it wasn't even six yet. "So now we finally get to spar?"

"Of course not!" Naruto stumbled again at Lee's enthusiastic response.

"But you said once we had my stance down!" Naruto stomped his feet, pouting.

"The stance is only the first part of combat. Surely you did fighting drills at the academy?" When Naruto nodded Lee continued. "Well, that is what is next. Drills teach you the basics and are the foundation for more powerful taijutsu forms. Now watch me!"

Lee settled into the fighting stance Naruto and he had been working on. He then slowing went through a rhythm of punches and kicks. When done, he settled back into the stance. "Now mimic me Naruto. I will do it with you the first few times."

Naruto found he couldn't argue. If this was what it took to learn awesome and powerful moves than he could handle it. Naruto settled into his stance and began to follow Lee as he moved through the rotation. Strangely, Naruto found it oddly relaxing.

After about the fourth one Lee stopped. He watched closely now as Naruto moved about what he was shown. If Naruto made a mistake Lee would point it out and the next time through Naruto would have it fixed. They did this until they heard Guy-sensei and Hinata approaching.

"Excellent, Naruto! That is all for now!" Lee shouted. He then turned to Guy-sensei. Naruto stopped what he was doing and also turned to face him.

Guy seemed to nod in approval. "I take it you made good progress, Lee?"

"Yes, Naruto's stance is perfect now. I did exactly as you instructed and we were working on the first drill for the remaining time!"

Guy nodded again. "Very good. We shall switch now, I will teach Naruto some more for awhile. Meanwhile I want you and Hinata to spar. After each round I want the two of you to discuss what you think you and the other did wrong, but more importantly, what you did right!" Guy gave a meaningful glance at Hinata as he spoke the last bit. She barely managed to hold his eye-contact. It was an improvement, not much of one but Guy was taking victories where he could.

"Let us go Naruto!" Guy turned to walk away. Naruto nodded and started after him

"Wait, Naruto!" Lee called. When Naruto turned to listen, Lee spoke. "I know we did not start out right today, but I am glad to have someone so full of youth on my team."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, thanks for being so patient with me Bushy Brow. I feel like I'm already a lot closer to becoming Hokage with just what you showed me." With one last big grin Naruto set off after Guy.

Lee was shocked. "He dreams of becoming Hokage?" He hadn't meant to ask to anyone in particular, so when Hinata answered he gave a small jump.

If Hinata noticed him jump, she did not show it. "Naruto-kun trains very had all the time. He was the dead-last of our year but it definitely wasn't his fault. No one ever took notice of him though. The only way he got anyone to look at him was by pulling pranks. It was so sad for me to see him that way but he has overcome every obstacle. It isn't just a dream for him."

"He _will_ be Hokage." Her eyes stayed on Naruto's back the whole time.

Lee was speechless. He had hardly heard this girl say two meek words. Now she had firmly stated an entire paragraph about Naruto. Either Guy-sensei's youth had broken through to her already or there was something else afoot. Looking back and forth between her and Naruto, he realized it was the latter.

Hinata turned and saw Lee staring. It then seemed to register what she had just done. Her face became red and she was immediately looking down while mumbling apologies.

"So Naruto was the dead last?" Lee said thoughtfully, ignoring Hinata when she looked up in surprise. "It is funny. I was the dead last in my year. It is like we have a team of failures gathered, is that not it?" It was kind of funny. Hinata had just had similar thoughts herself.

"At least," Lee continued, "That is what I would say if I was feeling unconfident or my flames had dimmed. Instead I say we look to the future and do our best with hard work!" Lee pumped his fists in the air. His eyes were ablaze.

Hinata couldn't help it. She smiled slightly. Where did her teammates pull their confidence from? "I t-think we should do what Guy-sensei requested of us." If only it could rub off onto her.

"Yosh! Excellent idea! Let us engage in youthful combat!" Lee settled into his fighting stance as he spoke.

Hinata ran through the seals to activate her Byakugan and then settled into her stance.

"Ready…Go!" Lee shouted. Hinata just stood there. "Guess expecting a charge from you would be as-" Lee was cut off as Hinata lunged at him. 'Crap' Lee thought ducking low. He jumped backwards but upon landing immediately launched himself forward. He had planned to catch Hinata off guard. Instead she blocked his solid punch with her forearm. She returned fire with a chakra enhanced one of her own. Lee jumped back again, avoiding the attack.

"Guy-sensei has already begun to bring out your youth!" Lee didn't let her lunge while he was talking catch him off guard this time. He knocked the Jyuken aside. Hinata stumbled just a little but it was enough. Lee dropped low and brought his legs around in a sweep. It landed perfectly and Hinata was sent painfully to her backside. The whole exchange had lasted less than a minute.

"Right! Positives and Negatives!" Lee plopped to the ground cross-legged. "Start with me and then move onto yourself. Also, do not be afraid of offending me. Knowing your weaknesses is the best way to improve after all!"

Hinata lifted herself into a sitting position to match Lee. With some hesitation she began. "Umm…y-you were very fast and your punches did quite a bit of damage even when I was blocking. That leg sweep you performed was perfectly timed." Hinata paused.

"Negatives." Lee repeated.

"Y-you were predictable in your lunges. You also lose focus when you speak. When I blocked you took an extra second to recover." It all tumbled out of Hinata's mouth quickly and her face flushed with embarrassment.

Before she could apologize Lee stopped her. "Good, now yourself."

Hinata seemed to think hard for a second before starting. "I stumbled at-"

"Positives first!" When Hinata looked like she was about to protest Lee again interrupted. "While knowing your weaknesses is good, not working on your strengths can have equally disastrous results. That was one of the first lessens taught to me by Guy-sensei." Lee stared at Hinata as she seemed to consider his words.

"I took the first opening I noticed." Hinata finally started. "I was also able to block your punch."

"Excellent!" Lee jumped to his feet. "Now let us go again!"

"B-but-" Lee held up his hand. It seemed to work on more than just Naruto.

"I am sure you know what you did wrong. We will discuss it after our next round. Now come!" Lee motioned her forward with his hand.

* * *

"Naruto! Tell me what you know of ninja teams!" This was not what Naruto had expected. Some awesome move training. Maybe a sweet teleportation jutsu. But not a lesson on teams. Still, Naruto didn't want to risk getting Guy-sensei's disappointed voice again. It was truly something that could give him nightmares.

"Yes Sensei. I know teamwork is important!" Naruto was proud of himself. He had remembered yesterday's lessen.

"Good. Now what else."

"What else?" Naruto repeated. 'Damn, how am I supposed to know about these things? Why does it matter anyways?' As Naruto wondered these things he searched his brain for an answer. Miraculously, one came.

"They operate in teams of four?" Naruto more asked than answered.

"Correct!" Guy gave Naruto a thumbs up. "Now tell me, how many clones can you create?" What the hell was with these questions? At least this one was easy.

"Hundreds!" Naruto folded his arms proudly.

"Good! From now on you will only ever have three out at a time!" Guy almost thought Naruto hadn't heard him for a second. In fact, Guy wasn't sure Naruto was even breathing at that moment.

Guy cleared his throat to continue when Naruto erupted, "What the hell do you mean three clones? Do you know how low of a number that is? Maybe you didn't hear me but I said _hundreds_. Why should I limit myself, doesn't that go against all your flames of youth talk?" Naruto was panting hard now. His anger subsiding slightly now that he'd expressed himself.

"There is the response I was waiting for!" Naruto looked at Guy curiously. "It's easier to explain when I know exactly what questions you have about my instructions." Guy stated simply. "So I'll go in order."

Guy took a deep breath and then began to fire off answers. "I meant three clones because that will make four of you in total, the same number we use for ninja teams. I am very capable of counting to three, I am a Jonin after all. I did in fact hear you say hundreds but that it a waste of chakra. Yesterday, when sparring against Lee you had more clones running into each other before they could even get to him. While it is true that you didn't give Lee much room to fight, the same could also be said for your clones. Not using your full power is not restricting your youthfulness in any way. It is in fact preserving it. If you are engaged in combat with another ninja and he thinks three clones is your limit, imagine how surprised he would be when a fourth clone snuck up on him. In the ninja world, surprises can kill."

Naruto flinched at that last statement. "Any more questions?" When Naruto shook his head, Guy continued, not winded at all from his long talk. "Excellent, because I have more for you." Naruto only grimaced.

"Tell me Naruto, what ninja art do you think I specialize in?" Guy pointed a dramatically to himself.

"Taijutsu!" Naruto had been apprehensive about more questions, but if they were like this it wouldn't be too bad.

"So, what do you expect to learn from me?" Guy was now pointing at Naruto.

"Taijutsu!" Naruto said a little louder this time.

"Excellent! Now what kind of taijutsu do you think I'm going to teach you?" Guy had moved his hands to his hips in what appeared to be a heroic pose.

"Kinds of Taijutsu? What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"Good question! There are many kinds of fighting styles and ways for ninjas to take down their opponents. Lee and I specialize in Goken. We use our superior strength and speed to crush our opponents into the ground. Hinata, like all Hyuga, are a little more discrete. They use Jyuken. That is attacking with your open palms and sending chakra into your opponent. They can do nasty things such as damage organs, disrupt your chakra and even stop it all together."

Naruto was wide eyed. "Hinata? You mean the one on our team can do that?"

Guy nodded. "Sure can, better not make her mad. But we're diverging away from the point. I'll re-ask my question. What kind of taijutsu do you think I'm going to teach you? Here's a hint. Think back to the questions I asked you first."

Naruto thought for a minute before answering. "You're going to teach me how to fight with my clones."

"Nice going Naruto!" Guy smiled down at his student. "Now one more question. Why do you think I am asking you all this instead of just telling you?"

"I'd been wondering that myself the whole time." Naruto admitted sheepishly.

Guy laughed at this. "It is because you need to learn to think for yourself Naruto. You show signs of being an excellent fighter, but you lack the ability to think things through. I am going to help you with strategy. Your clones will be all about teamwork and utilizing them to the most, Now tell me what could you and three clones accomplish together in combat that you couldn't by yourself."

"Easy, We could attack him from all sides at the same time. He'd never see it coming." Naruto nodded proudly to himself.

"This is what I mean Naruto." Guy's words interrupted Naruto's self-appreciation. "You only think of the most obvious things. You don't look underneath the underneath. Your clones could do so much more. If you were in the air and kunai were flying at you and with no other way to dodge, a clone could grab you and throw you out of the way. You could also use your clones to get higher by jumping off of them, this would give your opponent an unexpected aerial attack. You could have clones brace you from a nasty fall or intercept a hit for you. The options with your clones are limitless!"

The more Guy spoke the more stupid Naruto was starting to feel. How could there have been so many things and yet he could only come up with one?

Guy seemed to pick up on what Naruto was thinking. "Don't feel bad Naruto, it isn't your fault. It is my job as your teacher to make sure you now get the proper training and this is part of it. I promise you'll be good at it."

"Guy-sensei…Thank you." Naruto didn't know what else to say. Few people had ever been willing to work this much with him. Iruka-sensei would have if he didn't have thirty others kids to teach as well but now he had a Sensei who could spend the time.

"Think nothing of it, as I told you before, you are my student! Now, produce some clones and we will get to work!"

"Right!" Naruto formed the familiar seal and six clones popped into existence. Naruto and Guy both frowned. "Strange, I thought I was only using enough to do three."

"No matter." Guy waved it off. "Pop three out and I'll have you work on chakra control later."

Ashamed, Naruto did as his Sensei said. "So, how are you going to teach me?"

Guy walked over to Naruto. "Easy, with practice." He then grabbed him by the collar and whipped him into the air.

"What the hell!?" Naruto was easily thirty feet up.

"Remember, the examples I used, have your clones brace you!" The clones, who had been shocked with surprise sprung into motion, running to get under Naruto. They made it just in time as Naruto crashed down into them.

"Good! Now on to our next lesson!" Naruto groaned.

This was going to be painful.

Sure enough it was. But Naruto had to admit, it was also fascinating. Using his clones in so many unique ways was really something else. Soon enough though, the hour came to an end and Guy called for a stop.

"Good work today Naruto. Tomorrow, we shall put what you learned into practice with a light spar. So remember everything I taught you, you never know what you might need to use. Now let's go get those teammates of yours."

* * *

Hinata was exhausted. Lee seemed to have nearly limitless energy. While all the constantly getting up and sitting back down had worn her nearly completely out, Lee still looked ready for more. They were just getting up for another round when Guy and Naruto approached.

"One rotation left my youthful charges! Lee, you are with me now. Hinata, I assume you know how to do the tree walking exercise." Hinata nodded. "Good, I want you to teach Naruto. The boy needs serious help with Chakra control and you are just the one to teach it to him."

"M-me?" Hinata flushed instantly.

"Yes, with your Byakugan and already astute chakra control, I can think of no one better." Guy had struck another thumbs-up pose.

Naruto was at a complete loss. He looked back and forth between his Sensei and Hinata. Finally he couldn't take it any more. "Hey, what's this tree walking thing you're talkin' about?"

"Hinata is your partner this hour Naruto, ask her and I'm sure she'll tell you. Meanwhile, Lee and I have our own youthful agenda to get to." With that Guy and Lee bounded to the other side, leaving Naruto alone with Hinata.

"So," Naruto began. "what is this whole tree climbing thing you guys were talking about."

"I-it is w-walking up trees w-with your feet." Hinata barely managed to squeak out, her face getting redder.

Naruto was oblivious. "Really, like without using your hands? That's awesome, I can't believe you already know how to do that!"

Hinata couldn't believe it, Naruto had just called her 'awesome.' "I-I was taught by my f-family, it was necessary to work on charka control."

"I get it. You need good chakra control to do those cool punches you do, huh? Man, your family must be so sweet!" Naruto nodded proudly to himself, having figured it out.

"Yeah…sweet." Hinata barely whispered.

Sensing they were approaching an uncomfortable topic Naruto changed the conversation. "So, show me how to do this tree walking." Hinata only nodded and they walked over to the trees.

When they got there, Hinata began to explain. "A-all you have to do is focus your chakra into the soles of your feet." Having said this, Hinata began to climb up the tree. "Too much chakra and you launch off, too little and you just slip down." Hinata was now standing upside down on a branch.

"That is so awesome, my turn, my turn." Naruto ran up to the tree. He jumped up and stuck his feet to the tree, and was instantly launched backwards. He crashed painfully to the ground.

"N-Naruto-kun!" Hinata somewhat shouted. She jumped down from the tree and ran over to him. "A-are you okay?"

"Yeah, no problem, too much chakra, huh? I'll get it this time!" He was up and running at the tree again. A few seconds later and he was right back in the same spot on the ground. "Oww…" He groaned out.

"W-wait, Naruto-kun." Hinata got out. He turned to look at her and she almost forgot what she was going to say. "B-before you go again I will watch you, if I think you are using too much chakra I will let you know."

"You can see my chakra?" Naruto was learning a lot today, that was for sure.

"Y-yes, my Byakugan gives me 360 degree vision, and let's me see another's chakra." Hinata wasn't sure she was supposed to be sharing this information so lightly, but it was her teammate. Surely her father couldn't protest.

"Man, the more I learn about you the cooler you are Hinata!" Naruto gave her a big smile. "Hinata?"

The girl in question had gone stock still. She had no doubt in her head that she was redder than a tomato. She probably had steam coming out of her ears too. Naruto-kun had just said he thought she was really cool. This day was too good to be true. Surely she was dreaming. She was going to wake up any second now and it would still be the day of the team placements.

"Hinata? Hey, snap out of it, I didn't mean to offend you." Naruto's words finally seemed to reach her as she shook her head. "Thank goodness, I thought you were gonna pass out. Do you need a doctor?"

Hinata shook her head quickly. "W-we should g-get to work before Guy-sensei yells at us." Hinata pretty much gasped out.

Naruto frowned but nodded. He stood up and walked over to the tree. "Tell me if it is too much." Naruto than started to gather his chakra.

Hinata activated her Byakugan and gasped at what she saw. "N-Naruto-kun, you are using far too much chakra."

"I am? Damn, and I'm using like half of what I did before. Why is this so hard for me?" Naruto focused more and began to drop the amount he was using.

Hinata thought hard for a moment. She then decided to risk asking a question. "N-Naruto-kun, how is it that you have so much chakra? N-not even my father has as much as you." Hinata instantly regretted the question. Naruto dropped his gathered chakra all together and went very still.

"Is that so?" Naruto gave a nervous chuckle. "I must just be really awesome than. I mean, the future Hokage needs a lot of chakra, right?"

Hinata nodded quickly. "Y-yes, that makes sense." She couldn't help but feel even worse when Naruto's face showed total relief. He then went back to channeling his chakra. Hinata once again focused on Naruto's chakra. "Lower, lower." She kept repeating. After several seconds she finally said "Stop."

Naruto, silently, so as not to break his concentration began walking on the tree again. This time, instead of launching off he actually stood in place. With another hesitant step Naruto began walking up the tree. "Hey, I'm doing it, I'm doing it!"

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata's shout came too late. In his excitement, Naruto let more chakra through and he was promptly launched from the tree again. Hinata was next to him the second he hit the ground. "I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, I-"

"Sorry for what?" Naruto cut her off. "Did you see how high I got? Let's go again, with your help I'll get this in no time!" Naruto shakily returned to his feet and walked back over to the tree. Hinata couldn't bring herself to stop him.

* * *

"So what do you think of your new teammates?" Guy asked, blocking a spinning kick from Lee.

"Naruto-kun is most youthful." Lee sidestepped a punch. Returning a punch of his own he kept talking. "You were right. Hinata is much different from Neji. Although this is a good thing. I think they both have potential to become just like us Sensei."

"Yes, they will definitely become geniuses of hard work, just like you." Guy grabbed Lee's fist and then threw Lee into the air.

Lee flipped over and over and managed to land gracefully on his feet. He then launched back at his Sensei with a low kick. "Yes, I see they accepted your weights. They will improve fast with those."

Guy jumped over Lee's kick and brought his own foot down towards Lee's head. "Your voice betrays you Lee. You are jealous. But fear not, they will not advance with the weights nearly as fast as you did. The weights are simply to give them just a little more speed. They will not need to be as fast as you. They have their own styles."

Lee rolled out of the way, jumping up as he kicked high this time. "Guy-sensei! I am sorry to have doubted you! I should not have thought in such a manner!"

"Lee! It is okay! I could never stay mad at you!" Guy ducked the kick. He then launched at Lee with both arms open.

Lee mimicked his Sensei and they ended up in a tight embrace. Tears streamed down both their eyes.

"Guy-sensei!"

"Lee!"

Guy-sensei!"

"Lee!"

* * *

"What the hell are they doing over there." Naruto asked. He was dusting himself off from another nasty fall. Hinata only shrugged. "We got some real weirdos on our team. But you know, I like 'em. They mean well for us."

"I feel the same." Hinata whispered

"I was thinking," Naruto started. "I feel kinda bad that we turned down Guy-sensei's spandex, but maybe we could go out later today and buy some new clothes. We could get something green to match them. Only if you want though, I'm not good at clothes shopping myself so it would help a lot if you came with me."

Hinata was again wondering if this day was just a dream. She had at first been afraid Naruto was about to suggest they try the spandex. But instead, he asked her to go shopping with him.

It was almost like a date.

Hinata wanted to thank whatever God had put her on a team with those two who were still screaming each others names.

"Is that a no, then?" Naruto wasn't sure how else to take Hinata's silence. She almost seemed afraid of him at times. Maybe she knew about his prisoner?

"I-I'd be happy to go with you!" Hinata shook Naruto out of his thoughts now.

"Really? Awesome, when Sensei excuses us for the day we could just head out together then." Hinata nodded her head vigorously. She had almost let the chance go. Naruto gave his Sensei and older teammate one last look. "Anyways, let's get back to work." Hinata kept on nodding.

The hour passed quickly and Naruto nearly had the tree walking down by the time Guy and Lee came over.

"That is all the training for this morning!" The sun that was now peeking over the trees illuminated Guy's smile. "You are allowed an hour break. Use this to eat breakfast and wash up. Meet me in front of the Hokage tower, and don't be late." He gave Naruto a meaningful smile at the last comment. "Dismissed!"

Guy vanished in a swirl of leaves. The three genin looked at each other. "Well, I'm gonna run to Ichiraku's, there's a bowl of ramen with my name on it!" Naruto sped off without a second glance at his teammates.

Lee looked after him. "Quite youthful indeed." He mumbled to himself. "I am returning home, Hinata, I shall see you in an hour."

"Y-yes, I am also going home for the hour. I look forward to our first mission together." Hinata bowed to Lee and then the two ninja split up.

* * *

One Hour later and Guy's team was assembled outside of the tower.

"Well done team." Guy praised. "I just know that we are going to knock out these missions with youthful agility! Let us be prepared."

Naruto could hardly contain his excitement. "Yes! Finally, the best part of being a ninja! What kind of missions do you think we'll get? Maybe we'll be charged with protecting a princess of a foreign land. Or maybe we will get to slay some giant monster beast!" Lee only looked sadly at Naruto while Hinata smiled slightly at his imagination.

"Well let's find out!" Guy said leading them into the tower and up the stairs to the Hokage's office. Without even knocking Guy barged into the room.

"Team Guy with Naruto, Hinata, and Lee reporting for duty Hokage-sama!" Guy rang out.

"Ah, Guy." The Hokage drawled. "I was wondering when you would make your way up here, I heard you all the way from the bottom."

"Yeah, yeah, enough with the pleasantries old man, I want a mission!" Naruto was hit firmly on the head by his Sensei.

"Sorry about him, Hokage-sama, his flames burn so brightly he forgets his manners." Guy almost swore he heard Naruto mumble something about people who didn't knock but chose to ignore it.

"It's all well, Guy. I just so happen to have a good mission for your team." Naruto looked up expectantly again.

The Hokage tried hard not to let his smile show. "The Inuzuka's dogs happen to be in need of a walk through the village, I am sure they would appreciate it if you took them."

"..."

"What the hell!?"


	4. Daily Routine

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_Daily Routine  
_

* * *

To say Naruto was pissed off again would've been an understatement.

Naruto was not out in the world saving princesses or fighting giant monsters.

No, instead Naruto was in his home village, walking dogs. Some ninja mission this was. Naruto _hated_ dogs. Not that they seemed to like him either. Thankfully they were almost back to the Inuzuka's. When their house came into sight Naruto was reminded of when they first got there.

Naruto had been surprised when it was Kiba who had greeted them that morning. Although Kiba looked just as surprised.

"What are you guys doing here, and who the hell are the two weirdos in spandex?" Kiba had asked Naruto and Hinata but it was Guy who answered.

"Ah, a classmate of Naruto and Hinata. It is a pleasure to make your youthful acquaintance. I am Might Guy, I am Naruto and Hinata's Jonin Sensei. This here is Rock Lee and he is their fellow teammate." Kiba had to cover his ears. Sometimes having enhanced hearing was a pain.

"Is he always like this?" Kiba seethed.

"You have no idea." Naruto whispered back.

"Umm…w-we are here to walk your dogs. It is the mission assigned to us." Kiba turned to Hinata as she spoke.

"Man, one quiet girl with three loud guys. Whatever, follow me. I'll lead you to my mom, she's in charge of all that stuff." Kiba stepped inside followed by Team Guy.

The first thing Naruto noticed as he stepped in was the smell. It smelled like a hundred dogs lived there. Naruto didn't know how right he was until a dozen came running out of an adjoining room. They were barking wildly and Naruto took a nervous step back.

"Hey, hey, down! Come on guys, what's wrong? Sit!" Kiba barked out orders to his dogs before turning around and giving the team an apologetic smile. "They aren't usually like this. Sorry, I don't know what's gotten into them."

"They smell the boy." Tsume, Kiba's mom, answered as she also walked into the room. She was staring straight at Naruto.

"Who, me? Why should they be mad at me?" Naruto looked peevishly down at the dogs.

"You just have an odd smell about you is all." Tsume waved Naruto's question off. "Now, here are all the leashes." She threw a bundle of them which Lee caught. "They need to go all around the village. Make sure that if they poop, you pick it up, and try not to let them attack anyone, including your orange teammate there." Tsume was again looking at Naruto and he wasn't sure he liked the look on her face.

He was pulled out of his recollection by Guy's loud knock on the door. "Inuzuka-san! We have returned from our youthful mission with our flames burning even more brightly than when we started!" The door flew open quickly. It was Kiba again. He gave a meaningful look to Naruto.

"Does this Sensei of yours have a volume switch?" When Naruto shook his head Kiba scoffed. "Anyway, show yourselves in, I was just leaving to meet with my team. Maybe we'll get an awesome mission. I hope we get to save a princess." Kiba was now walking off. Naruto couldn't help but feel a little sad for the boy who was about to have his dreams crushed.

"You guys wait here. I will go in and get this stamped and we'll be on our way for the next mission." Guy went inside, followed by the herd of dogs. After just a few moments he came back out. "Okay team, let's have a quick lunch and then get back to the Hokage tower for our next mission. Guy whipped out eight ration bars and handed them out. "Two for each of us. Eat up!"

Naruto blanched as he crunched into his. "What the hell kind of lunch is this? How can these things possibly be filling?"

"Ah, Naruto, you have much to learn." Guy was in lecture mode now. "These bars contain all the essential nutrients to keep the body going through a day of hard work. They are important in our diet and are the main food of shinobi on missions. So you better get used to the taste!"

Naruto didn't like it but he ate it anyways. Guy-sensei had yet to be wrong. Soon they were off towards the tower again.

At first Lee couldn't place the uncomfortable feeling he had been getting. The whole walk with the dogs and now to the Hokage tower it felt like everyone in the village was glaring at him. Lee couldn't understand why they would glare at him so he followed their eyes and realized it was Naruto.

The entire village was shooting Naruto dirty looks.

Lee couldn't fathom why they would be so mad at him though. According to Hinata, Naruto had pulled a few pranks. They couldn't have been bad enough to piss off the whole village though, right? Guy-sensei definitely didn't hate him. So he couldn't be all bad.

As they walked into the Hokage's office, Lee turned his thoughts away from his teammate to listen to the Hokage give them their next mission.

"Excellent," The Hokage smiled at the team. "Here is your pay for this mission, for your next mission I would like you to assist the Ikoma's with moving. They have all their boxes packed but just need them and their furniture moved across the village." As the Hokage spoke he passed out their pay.

Naruto made a grunt of displeasure but otherwise remained silent. Guy-sensei had explained to them the point of the missions, how they developed teamwork and were a great way to make quick pay. He had also thrown in that they were stuck with them for two weeks thanks to their team arrangement. Lee couldn't complain. Sure, he didn't like the boring missions but they left it easy to stay in the village to have training time.

As they set off to do their next mission, they started walking as they normally did. Guy-sensei and himself were in the front with Naruto just barely behind them. The orange-clad boy had stepped on Lee's sandals a couple times he was so close. Hinata held a good distance back.

"Hey Sensei, what do we gotta do to get off of this two week of D-ranks?" Naruto jogged up to the other side of their Sensei to ask the question. Taking this opportunity, Lee noticeably fell back and started walking with Hinata. She just glanced at him curiously.

Lee spoke quietly. "Have you noticed the looks Naruto has been getting?" Hinata nodded. "Well, do you know what is up with that, you had mentioned about him pulling pranks but were they really that bad?"

Hinata shook her head again before speaking up. "A-as far as I know, Naruto-kun has received these looks since before he pulled even his first prank." Hinata looked suspiciously at the people who walked by as they talked. "E-even my own family forbade me from talking to him, they said he was dangerous."

Lee frowned "Dangerous how?"

"What's dangerous?" Lee and Hinata both jumped. The topic of their conversation was now walking backwards right in front of them. He gave them a weird look before Lee managed to jumble out an excuse.

"W-well, C-rank missions. Hinata here had been questioning what they were like and they are dangerous, you know?" Lee gave a nervous chuckle.

"Guy-sensei just said the same thing. But I think we can handle them no problem. After all, I'm gonna be Hokage!" Lee gave a sigh of relief, Naruto had accepted his excuse easily enough. He didn't know why, but he didn't feel like bringing it up with him. Lee doubted it would've made him comfortable. Naruto appeared oblivious to the looks, but Lee was almost sure it was a farce.

Naruto walked with them the rest of the way, asking Lee questions about the kind of missions he had been on and if he had ever saved a princess. Lee answered the best he could but he was distracted now. How could Naruto be dangerous? It didn't make sense. Once he could talk more with Hinata he might have more insight. He would just have to wait. They were here.

"Ikoma-san! We are here to help you move!" Guy screamed at the building. A confused looking elderly couple stepped out of the building. When they saw the leaf symbol on Guy's belt, recognition dawned on their faces.

"Ah, yes good. We were wondering when the Hokage would send you shinobi. We would appreciate it if you would get started right away." The husband said.

"Right, you guys heard them, get to work." Lee watched Naruto nod excitedly and start to form the ram seal. "No clones, Naruto. You can't improve if you rely on them all the time." Naruto frowned at his Sensei's words but nodded. This act pulled the couples attention to Naruto though.

"What is _that_ doing here?" The elderly woman practically spat. "I don't want him anywhere near my possessions. That little...thing...will rob us blind!" Lee turned quickly to Hinata and saw her glance at him quick too, then they both turned to Naruto to see his reaction. To Lee's surprise it wasn't anger. It wasn't even sadness. What Lee saw was much more confusing than that. What Lee saw in Naruto was fear. But what was he afraid of?

"I assure you, Naruto is no thief. He is a ninja of the leaf and is sworn to protect its citizens and everything they own." Guy set his hand on Naruto's shoulder. Lee noticed Naruto visibly relax at the touch. Guy-sensei was amazing. "Of course, if you are still uncomfortable with my team then we can head back." The women started to nod. "I'm sure the Hokage will understand when I tell him that you decided to reach into your lingering youth and move everything without the aide of shinobi."

The woman started to sputter at that. "What, but, you can't do that." She screeched.

"I fail to see why not, after all, if my team of youthful ninja isn't right for the job, I couldn't possibly see any other ninja to be bothered with this assignment."

The woman was about to say something again before her husband interrupted. "We would be honored if you young ones would help us. Just keep an eye on your student. You know? To put my wife at ease."

"Of course." Guy said in clipped voice. The old man gave Naruto a little glare before he let them in.

Lee was even more curious now. The more that happened the more badly he felt he had to hear what Hinata had to say. It might be nothing but any little bit of information was welcome at this point. This outright hostility was not the result of pranks.

Alas, he had no time. Between the four of them moving boxes and furniture at their own paces he rarely saw Hinata during the time of the whole mission. That didn't stop him from trying to talk with their employers though.

Coming back from just doing a stack of boxes Lee met the elderly man at the door. "I was wondering," Lee hoped this was coming off casually. "I did not know that my teammate had stolen things from people before, where have you heard such things?"

The old man scoffed. "Heard such things? You don't need to have heard them to know he's done it. The brat's a demon. They do worse than just steal."

Lee was confused but tried not to show it. He had to hold a look of just casual interest. "I am sorry, I am afraid I do not understand what you mean by demon?" The old man seemed to be considering his answer. Like he was nervous of saying the wrong thing.

How strange.

Unfortunately for Lee, he was interrupted.

"Lee, this is no time for breaks. Let your fire burn brightly and transport with all your might!" Guy-sensei was running towards them on a handstand.

"Yes Guy-sensei! I apologize for slacking off while the rest of you are working so hard! I will lift four times the amount I had been before as punishment!" Lee dashed inside and quickly stacked four boxes in each arm and started running to the other end of town.

'Darn, I was about to find out something big too, I know it!' Lee silently cursed to himself. It didn't matter though. There would be more chances, there were a lot of boxes after all. However, to Lee's annoyance there weren't anymore chances. It was like Guy-sensei was following him now. Almost like Sensei knew he was asking things he probably shouldn't be. But surely Sensei couldn't have known that. Guy-sensei wasn't really that all-knowing.

Right?

Soon enough the mission was over. The couple thanked them, although Lee doubted they meant Naruto, judging by the final glare they gave him. Now they were on their way back to the tower. As they were walking Guy started talking.

"It appears to be about three o'clock. We will go collect our reward but stop missions here for today. I would like to treat you all to some lunch before continuing our training!" Naruto began to say something but Guy quickly cut him off. "No ramen, you need to eat more than that." Naruto didn't respond but dropped his head in defeat. He was too predictable at times.

He stayed quiet the whole way to the Hokage's office, where they received their money.

"So, Lee-kun, tell me how you like your new teammates, I do hope you are getting along well with them." The Hokage's question caught Lee off guard.

"Their flames burn very brightly Hokage-sama! I am honored to work with them." Lee bowed as he spoke.

The Hokage laughed and waved his bow off. "No need for that dear boy. I am curious though? Are you upset having lost your old teammates?"

Lee thought before answering. "I have not lost them, Hokage-sama, I can still see them and hopefully I shall get to do more missions with them sometime." The Hokage seemed pleased with his answer.

"That's the spirit, Guy has trained you well, I look forward to seeing you all again bright and early tomorrow morning." The Hokage dismissed them.

The team exited the tower and began following Guy as he led them through the bustling streets of Konoha. During this time Lee had hoped to talk with Hinata about what she had meant earlier. Only to be thwarted again by Naruto who fell back into line with him.

"Heh, isn't this great! A free meal, too bad it isn't ramen though." Naruto's huge smile looked awfully fake to Lee now that he was this close.

Lee glanced quickly around to see the ever-present glares before responding. "Yosh! Free food is fantastic! I cannot think of the last time that Guy-sensei felt so inclined to treat me out to eat! He says my stomach is far too full of youth for his wallet to handle!" Naruto and Lee continued to converse about food with an embarrassed Hinata in the middle.

Suddenly her stomach growled. Hinata gave a small "eep" If her face had been red before it was absolutely glowing now. "I-I'm s-sorry. I d-"

She was interrupted by Naruto's laugh. "Guess you're really hungry too. Guy-sensei is in for it tonight!" Naruto's smile seemed a little more loose and honest as he spoke.

Just as Lee thought this, Guy spoke up, "We have arrived! Let us enter and dine to our hearts content!" Naruto and Lee grabbed Hinata and dashed inside followed by their laughing Sensei.

Their excitement was cut abruptly short. When the genin ran in they could practically feel the tension in the restaurant. The fact that the whole place got silent very quickly didn't help. It didn't take anyone on the team long to figure out why. Guy was standing silently behind them now. A waiter emerged from the back and quickly approached them, sweating profusely.

"I-I'm sorry to inform you Guy-san, but we are booked full right now." The waiter mumbled nervously.

Guy glanced at all the empty tables around the restaurant. His students were watching him for his reaction. Unfortunately, Guy didn't see much he could do besides leave. Calling the waiter out on his obvious lie would only cause problems. "I see. Then we shall be sure to take our business elsewhere."

Lee had had enough. Naruto was getting treated like garbage everywhere they went. He didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve any ill-will at all for that matter. In short, this was bullshit. Lee was about to vocalize these thoughts when Hinata surprised them all.

"You're all despicable." She had spoken quietly but due to the silence in the restaurant, there was no doubt they all heard her. Her head had been turned down when she first spoke but now she lifted it. The waiter gave a controlled yelp and jumped back. The sight of Hinata's active Byakugan apparently had unnerved him. "I'll make it known to the rest of my family the gravity of this insult. They shall see to it that you are out of business."

Hinata knew this was an empty threat. She actually had very little sway within her family. But they didn't know that. Her unmarked head clearly marked her as main branch and to her silent pride, she actually kind of sounded like a heiress for once in her life. She found if it was for Naruto, she could do almost anything.

Besides, once word of what she said got around, more than enough people would probably avoid the restaurant anyways. So they might go out of business without her clan's interference. The waiter seemed about ready to sputter out a response but Hinata didn't even want to hear it. She turned on her heel and left the restaurant, the rest of her team in tow.

"Wow, she is scary when she is mad." Lee whispered to Naruto.

Naruto could only nod dumbly to Lee's words. He was so stupefied by Hinata's reaction he had completely forgot why it was necessary in the first place. It seemed all women were scary as hell when pissed to him.

Guy was for once in his life torn. While he didn't want to see the restaurant that served such delicious food go out of business, they definitely deserved it. No one treated his students that way with him around. He had made that clear while on their second mission. But Hinata's reaction had in a strange way almost made it worth it, the passionate flames that were flying off of her were tremendous. Guy could have cried. He just hoped it wouldn't take another incident like this to pull them back out.

As they walked out Hinata began to realize what she really just did. How could she have done that to Guy-sensei, to Lee, and most importantly, to Naruto. She had definitely just ruined the rest of the day. She turned around to apologize but was met with what appeared to be hesitant looks from her teammates. That couldn't be good.

She began to bow but Guy cleared his throat. "No apology is needed, what you did was definitely within your bounds as a teammate. So how about some ramen?" Guy felt he had to change the subject. Surely Naruto would be happy at the thought of ramen. In fact, if Naruto had been upset at all he didn't show it. At the word ramen, Naruto started jumping around before he grabbed Hinata and Lee by the hands and started pulling them off to his favorite stand. Guy allowed a small grin. The wonders of youth.

Naruto was actually quite relieved. He had expected his teammates to ask by now about the looks he was being given. He wasn't that unobservant. He saw them glance at the other citizens. He knew they saw the glares. When that old hag had called him a menace he had been afraid they would ask about that too. How was he supposed to explain that one? Now this restaurant crap. He really had expected a "Hey, what's up?" but instead his teammates got angry for him and were now trying to cheer him up. It made him feel oddly warm inside. He knew they were curious, but as long as they didn't ask he was okay. He could always just blame it on pranks if they did ask though.

"And here we are, the greatest ramen stand in all of the Fire Country!" Naruto stood looking at his team, both hands gestured to the stand.

"Naruto! You make an old man's heart warm!" Lee looked over Naruto to see an elderly looking man smiling brightly at them. "Well, come have a seat and introduce me to these friends of yours!"

Naruto nodded "Come on guys, over here." He ran over and plopped himself on the far right seat. Lee sat next to him, Guy next to him and Hinata on the far left. "Alright guys, this old man is Teuchi, the owner of the stand. That girl over there is Ayame-neechan." Naruto gestured to a slightly older girl as she came into view from behind the stand.

"Old man, Ayame-neechan. These are my teammates, Lee and Hinata, and this is my new teacher, Guy-sensei." Naruto gestured to the left as he talked.

"It's nice to meet you all." Teuchi greeted. "Naruto here is our best customer, any friend of his is welcome here anytime."

Lee liked this guy. Finally there was someone who wasn't treating Naruto like scum, but more like family. Guy-sensei seemed to share his sentiments. "Your fires burn most brightly! I see why Naruto comes here so much already. I can only imagine the excellent quality of your noodles!" At the mention of food, three stomachs growled.

The old man laughed. "Sounds like we're making good business tonight. What'll you all have?" The team ordered their food, and then made light conversation as they waited for their noodles. When they got there, everyone dug in. Even Hinata seemed to eat with a distinct haste.

As they started to get done, Guy cleared his throat. When he was sure he had his students' attention, he began talking. "I wanted to discuss what you can expect us to be doing for the next couple of weeks." All of his students nodded. "As you know, we start practice at five in the morning. We train for three hours, or an hour for each rotation. Same as we did this morning. After we have done that, we break for an hour breakfast. Be sure to get your proper nutrients, or you will have a most unyouthful day. At nine we report to the Hokage for missions. Some missions are longer than others so we may only do a couple a day. Between missions we should have another meal, but not a big one, we have to be diligent. Those ration bars work just fine. We will end missions as close to four as possible. After which we will eat as we are now."

"So, what do we do after this?" Naruto asked.

"We train some more!" Guy answered, "Now run back off to where we met this morning, I will take care of the bill. If you are not there before me you will all run five hundred laps around Konoha!" Guy stood up and pulled out his wallet and his students were gone in a flash. The ramen stand owner started cracking up.

"You sure are an interesting fellow. But then again, Naruto is an interesting kid so I suppose it's only natural."

"That he is! His fire burns more brightly than most, despite all that he's been through. I offer my thanks to you for helping him out."

"I couldn't turn my back on him, he's a good kid." The old man waved off Guy's thanks. "Just do me a favor and make sure that he and his teammates become fantastic shinobi."

Guy smiled. "Of course, I wouldn't settle for anything less. Now if you'll excuse me, I can't give them too much of a head start. I wasn't joking about those laps." Guy disappeared, leaving a laughing Teuchi.

Fortunately for the Genin they got there just before their speedy Sensei. "Good, good. I see you are improving all ready." Guy beamed at Naruto and a panting Hinata. "Now on to training!"

"Yes, so what kind of training is this, some awesome taijutsu killing moves?" Naruto guessed.

It was Lee who answered. "It is better than that."

"Better? What's better, Ninjutsu?" Naruto couldn't think of anything else better than learning sweet new moves.

"No, physical exercise!" Lee pumped his fists in the air. "There is nothing better than doing ten thousand push-ups, followed by five thousand sit-ups, and then one hundred laps around the leaf village as a cool down!"

Naruto's mouth hit the ground. "What kinda work out is that?" It sounds like suicide!" He couldn't fathom doing all that and still being done while it was light out. Then it hit him that they may well be out until midnight. "Wait, how long are we doing this for?"

"Only until seven." Guy answered. "It is almost five now. I won't start you at what I'm having Lee doing but I expect you to progress fast. This work-out is the best way to strengthen your muscles and it puts those weights I gave you to the real test! Now, Lee, I like what you suggested, get started!"

"Yes Sensei, if I cannot finish in the allotted time I will do ten thousand more push-ups with one hand and a boulder on my back!" Lee leapt down and began doing push-ups at a rate that made Naruto sweat just looking at him.

"Great thinking Lee! Let your fires of youth scorch the sky!" Guy gave Lee the thumbs up.

"Is it just me or does their crazy behavior just become that much crazier when we train?" Naruto whispered to Hinata.

She tried to suppress a giggle but it slipped out. Her face burned brightly again but Guy-sensei didn't give her long to think about that.

"For today, I am just going to have you do random exercises for a set amount of time. This is so I can get an idea of your limits and then I will know how far to push you in the coming days. Let's take after Lee and start with push-ups." Naruto and Hinata spent the next hour doing all sorts of things, ranging from jumping-jacks to running around the clearing on their hands, something that proved very difficult for Naruto.

Soon though the two hours was nearly done so Naruto and Hinata collapsed to the ground as they waited for Lee to finish his laps. Even Naruto's seemingly endless stamina had shown its limits during their intense work-out. Hinata didn't even have the strength to be embarrassed from her close proximity to Naruto.

"You have done well. You would do even better to rest up tonight, for tomorrow will be just as rigorous." Guy started to lecture just as they heard Lee's panting as he slowly jogged into the clearing. Lee collapsed next to his teammates.

"I-I have finished t-the assigned task, Guy-sensei!" Lee got out between gasps. He gave a lazy salute which Guy returned with full vigor.

"Excellent job Lee! I am sorry I did not join you today but now that they are set I will be sure to engage fully in the training myself tomorrow. For now, go home and rest. That goes for all of you!" Guy disappeared in a swirl of leaves, to where, the Genins could only guess.

"Well, I shall see you both early tomorrow then." Lee staggered to his feet and was about to leave when Naruto called out to him.

"Hey, wait, Bushy Brow." Naruto stood up and brushed himself off. "Hinata and I were gonna go shopping for something green, you know, we think Guy-sensei might appreciate it. You could come with us, it'll be fun. Right, Hinata?"

"Y-yes!" While Hinata said this she inwardly hoped Lee declined. She liked Lee but she had been hoping it would just be Naruto and her. While she knew she lacked the courage to actually do anything and it would have been embarrassing she would have been able to at least pretend it was a date.

Lee thought about it. This was actually a good opportunity. He had yet to finish his conversation with Hinata and he needed to bond with them outside of training he supposed.

"Alright, I will happily accompany you on your venture for new clothes. With you two also in green, we will become the Leaf's Green Ninja Team!" Lee said much to Hinata's disappointment. Not that she showed it and neither boy took notice.

"Awesome, let's get going!" Naruto already seemed to be recovered from the two hours of brutal training. Lee and Hinata tiredly followed after him.

* * *

Guy was pacing inside the Hokage's office. Some of the things he'd seen today greatly disturbed him. He just had to figure out how to voice his thoughts to the Hokage himself.

Said old man looked greatly disturbed. It took a lot to get Guy to get like this. He hadn't seen it in years himself. He had a good idea what the source of his inner turmoil was though. It had to be Naruto. The Hokage sighed. Might as well get it over with. "You can speak freely, Guy. It is apparent things have disturbed you today, tell me what they are." It was an order

Guy stopped pacing and straightened. "It's about, Naruto." The Hokage grimaced. Sometimes being wise had its downfalls. One was being right when you didn't want to be. "The treatment the boy gets is down right unforgivable. He keeps them safe every day of his life and they call him a demon, accuse him of things he has never done, and bar him from their establishments."

The Hokage sighed again. He always felt more his age when the boy's treatment was brought up. "Tell me exactly what happened. Start from the beginning." And so Guy did. He recounted everything from their missions, to the glares, and finally what had happened at the restaurant. After each telling the Hokage sunk lower into his chair. He seemed to have overlooked so much. When Guy finished the Hokage sat up straight again. "I have missed so much concerning the boy. How is he doing? What of the reactions of his teammates?"

"The boy just goes on smiling. I would never guess something was wrong if I wasn't there myself to witness everything. He hides it so well. I take comfort in saying I am most proud of all my students. The others have not questioned him but they are definitely on to something. Yet they have asked him nothing and instead already treat him like a friend. While this is to be expected of my Lee, it warms my heart to see a kind Hyuga." Guy smiled slightly at the end.

The Hokage could not return his smile though. "Maybe, it would be best if we brought them in and informed them of what-"

"No!" The Hokage looked at Guy curiously. It was not often anyone interrupted him anymore. Especially to refuse a suggestion from him. Guy seemed to realize this but held his ground. "Forgive me Hokage-sama, but I feel Naruto has to tell them himself. That is the only way for him to feel that they truly accept him. If we go behind his back and tell them he will never be able to open his heart up to them. Please leave it to them." Guy was practically begging now.

The Hokage looked at Guy awhile longer before nodding. "I understand, thank you for your report Guy. I hope to hear more in the future. Perhaps some with more good news. Dismissed." Guy nodded and left out the door. When he left the Hokage took a long drag on his pipe. He had a lot to think about tonight.

* * *

Meanwhile, Guy's team was again walking through the busy streets of Konoha. Naruto was still in the lead, Lee and Hinata following closely behind him. Suddenly Naruto stopped hard. Lee bumped into him.

"What gives, Naruto?" Lee backed up slightly to give Naruto his space. Naruto himself, turned around and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Well, you see, I just realized, I don't know where we're going." Naruto gave a small chuckle. Lee sighed. He should have figured.

"Well, where do you normally buy your clothes?" Lee regretted the question. Naruto's eyes lowered to the ground and his smile faded. But his smile quickly returned and Lee almost thought he imagined it.

"Well, I've never actually been clothes shopping." The grin plastered on Naruto's face made Lee feel sick.

"B-but where did you get your orange jumpsuit." Hinata squeaked out. Lee suddenly had a bad feeling about the answer they were going to get.

"Yeah, one of our old instructors gave this to me. It was super nice of him, huh?" Naruto just kept smiling, oblivious to the look Lee and Hinata now gave each other. Lee realized Hinata had come to the same conclusion as him. Someone had intended to get Naruto killed on a mission. Orange wasn't exactly a stealthy color after all. It wouldn't have surprised Lee if it was the same instructor that taught Naruto his taijutsu.

"W-well, I know of a good shop to get ninja clothes. G-green shouldn't be hard to find there." Hinata was upset. How could so many people be so mean to Naruto? She was definitely going to make sure he didn't have to suffer anymore. She just needed to find the courage to make good on her silent promise.

So, with Hinata now in the lead the team was off again. Soon they entered a clothing store, just a block away from where they had been. As they walked around, Hinata noticed Lee grab a couple items, run up and buy them. He then went running to where Naruto was to help him choose. Hinata couldn't help but be curious as to what Lee had just purchased. She supposed she would find out soon though.

Soon she was ready. She had found a nice hooded-sweatshirt. It was striped green and gray horizontally and was just a little big for her, just the way she wanted. She also found some pants that were a dull green but seemed to fit her well so she grabbed a few pair of those too. She was now outside of the changing room with Lee waiting for Naruto.

Soon the boy stepped out with camouflage pants and a jumpsuit just as green as what Lee was wearing at the moment. She also noticed an orange tee-shirt underneath, but what was Naruto without a little bit of orange? Lee gave him the thumbs-up and Hinata nodded her acceptance as he peered at them inquisitively. He smiled at their reactions, went back in and reemerged with his orange attire back on.

"I-I'll take all the clothes and you can just give me your pay." Hinata offered sticking her hand out. In reality, she just didn't want them to do anything to him. The way he was treated she wouldn't be surprised if they charged him double.

"Nah, that's okay, I can do it." Naruto held his clothes protectively. "I'm totally capable of doing this by myself." It appeared he had misunderstood her intentions. Hinata gave a pleading look to Lee who seemed to catch on.

"Come on, Naruto, let her handle it. Do you not know how much women love to shop? Just buying the product is another part to that experience!" Naruto started to nod slowly as Lee took his clothes and handed them to Hinata.

"I suppose that makes sense, thanks Hinata." Naruto handed her the money and Lee led them out of the store. Hinata went and paid for everything without incident. But when she walked outside she didn't immediately see her teammates. For just a second she got depressed and thought that maybe they ditched her. That is, until she heard them.

"Psst, Hinata quickly over this way!" She heard Naruto's not so quiet whisper and turned to see both him and Lee hiding behind a nearby sign. She walked over curiously.

"Umm, what are you guys doing?" Naruto and Lee both turned to her and maybe a "shh" noise before turning their attention back to the store across the street. Hinata looked over but didn't see anything in particular. Not until Haruno Sakura walked out of a building anyway.

"Sakura-chan…" Both Genin were practically drooling, their eyes had a strange glow about them. Suddenly they both seemed to realize the other was staring as well. "Wait, you know Sakura-chan? Of course I know her, she's mine." Their mimicry of each other almost seemed rehearsed and would have made Hinata laugh if she didn't feel like her heart was crumbling apart. Sure she knew of Naruto's crush on Sakura, but it still hurt whenever he looked at her that way. If only he would give her a glance like that. Even just once.

"This can only be settled one way," Lee declared, no longer trying to be quiet. "Jenken!"

"How is that supposed to solve anything?" Naruto apparently gave up on being quiet too.

"Simple, the loser must give up on Sakura-chan and must help the winner get a girlfriend. What do you say?"

"I say let's do this!" Naruto and Lee assumed their 'ready' positions. Hinata knew it was a terrible thought but she just couldn't help but pray that Lee won.

"Okay, ready?" Lee asked. Naruto nodded.

"Rock."

"Paper."

"Scissors."

"Shoot!"

Lee threw rock.

Naruto threw scissors.

"Yosh! Sakura-chan is mine!" Lee jumped in the air.

"Best two of three." Lee fell hard to the ground.

"What?" He shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Naruto.

"I thought that was how we were doing it. That's how it's always done."

"Fine!" Lee stood up and they both got back into position.

"Rock."

"Paper."

"Scissors."

"Shoot!"

Lee again threw rock…

...and Naruto again threw scissors.

"Best three of five."

"Umm…she's walking away." Hinata interrupted their game as she watched Sakura walk down the street. She was also just trying to get Naruto to give up, not that she would ever admit it.

"Right, sorry Naruto but time is up! I look forward to your assistance in getting me a girlfriend!" Lee bowed low before looking expectantly at Naruto.

Naruto seemed to be in an internal struggle for just a second. "Damn, fine but let's hurry, we gotta catch up to her!" Naruto started running down the street. Lee was quick to be after him. A relieved and slightly happy Hinata trailed behind them both.

Naruto didn't like to admit it but maybe it was time he did give up on Sakura. After all, he had teammates now. They actually didn't treat him like dirt. They were even quickly becoming what he figured you would call friends. And if his friend wanted a date with Sakura than he would be damned if he didn't get it for him!

With this in mind he called out to her "Sakura-chan!" She stopped short. He noticed her shoulders go rigid but she turned around all the same. At least she didn't jolt on them. That would have made things complicated. As they ran up Naruto gave a nervous wave but then paused. Crap, he didn't come up with a plan at all. Time to wing it.

"What do you want, idiot?" Sakura was pissed. She had just bought more perfume to impress Sasuke but instead of her dream boy showing up, the class clown came running up instead. If he asked her out again she would have to beat his brains out, again.

"Hey, I, uhh, I wanted to introduce you to my teammates." Naruto started lamely, scratching the back of his head.

"I already know them, Naruto, I was in your class." Naruto gulped. Yep, she was short on patience.

"Well, yeah, you know Hinata of course," Naruto gestured to his female teammate. "but I doubt you know this handsome stud! This is Rock Lee. He graduated the year before us and he is one kick ass Taijutsu expert." Naruto built Lee up.

Sakura had wanted to ask why they were paired up with a Genin a year ahead of them, but her question was blown from her mind when she saw the so-called "stud". The boy had the most atrocious clothes she had ever seen in her life. His eye-brows were thicker than should have been possible, not to mention his bowl-cut was so out of style she almost cried. The worst yet was the creepily bright smile and thumbs-up he was giving her. That damned idiot Naruto was making fun of her. If this was some kind of revenge for her rejecting him all the time he was dead. It didn't matter, he was dead anyway she decided.

Lee couldn't think of what to say. His mind froze now that they were so close to her. She was staring, that had to be good. Now if he could get himself to drop the thumbs-up and talk to her he would be good. He never got the chance. Sakura suddenly sent a fist down on Naruto's head.

"Naruto, you idiot! What kind of joke is this? You're retarded and will never be funny, cool, or smart! Just get outta my life!" As she spoke she wailed on Naruto. Hinata just watched in mute horror as she saw Naruto get his typical beating from Sakura. Meanwhile, Lee, who'd never witnessed this before, couldn't bring himself to watch anymore. He was about to intervene when she stopped, looked up and ran past them, all the while screaming, "Sasuke-kun!" Lee was so surprised by the sudden change in her demeanor he turned to see who she ran after.

Lee grew wide-eyed and his heart stopped for a fraction of a second. Sakura had run after who Lee could only assume was the last surviving Uchiha. But that wasn't who he was looking at. Walking on either side of Sasuke were his old teammates, Neji and Tenten. He was pulled out of his shock by Naruto.

"Sorry, Bushy Brow, with that bastard Sasuke around it is gonna be hard to get her, but don't worry, I'll make Sakura yours." Naruto seemed totally unfazed by his beating. Maybe a little heartbroken, but physically, it looked like she never touch him. "But man, she sure does pack a punch still, almost like old times." Lee couldn't believe it, this was commonplace? Lee found his infatuation for Sakura dieing quickly. Just as he was thinking this Tenten must have caught sight of them because she was calling out to him. She grabbed Neji and pulled him over. A begrudged Sasuke and ignored Sakura followed.

"Lee, it's so good to see you again." Tenten said as she ran up and gave Lee a hug. "Isn't that right Neji?" She gave her cold teammate a meaningful look.

"Yes, it has been…quiet without you and Guy-sensei. Our new sensei has a knack for being late. Fortunately, we are able to train just fine without him. He spends most of his time on the rookie anyways."

Lee nodded quickly. Coming from Neji, that quiet comment was the closest thing to a compliment Lee had ever received from him. He found himself just a little happy. Naruto cleared his throat and looked at Lee expectantly. "Ah yes, Neji, Tenten, these are my new teammates. The blond one is Uzumaki Naruto and the girl is-"

"Hyuga Hinata-sama." Neji finished coldly, practically spitting out the -sama.

"Neji-nii-san" Hinata said quietly.

"Whoa, he's your brother?" Naruto asked

"Cousins, idiot." Sasuke answered for him. "Not that you'd know anything about clans."

"Watch yourself when talking about clans, Sasuke." Neji gave Sasuke a side-ways glance. "As fate has it, yours isn't around anymore either." Sasuke just glared at Neji. There was nothing he could do to the older Genin and he knew it. Sakura had even gotten quiet from the tension that was beginning to build.

"We'll be taking our leave then." Neji said after a moment of silence settled over the Genin. "It's funny though. Looks like Guy-sensei seems the one to get all the misfit shinobi." With that he walked off. Sasuke followed quickly as did Tenten but not before she gave an apologetic smile to Guy's new team. Sakura of course, ran after them as well, trying to get Sasuke's attention again.

Naruto had been about to set off at Neji and teach him a thing or two but Lee held him back. "I know how you feel, Naruto, but Neji is the reason we must train to become geniuses of hard work. Neji was at the top of my graduating class, just like Sasuke was yours. When we are ready, we will take them on. But that is not until Guy-sensei says we are." Naruto finally seemed to calm down.

"Sorry Bushy Brow," He said panting heavily. "next time, we'll get Sakura for sure."

Lee shook his head. "That is alright, I think I will have you help me with someone else. The way Sakura acted towards that genius has put a bad taste in my mouth."

"So then it's okay for me to go for Sakura-chan again?" Naruto looked slightly hopeful.

"Nope, remember the terms of our agreement was the loser had to give up on Sakura. Just because I do not want her does not mean you can go for her." As Lee was talking he gave Hinata a wink, unnoticed to Naruto. Hinata gave another small "eep" and a blush spread on her face.

Naruto turned to Hinata when she squeaked. "I can't believe that Neji guy is your cousin, Hinata. He's no where near as nice as you are." Hinata's blush got even deeper but she managed to mumble out a small thanks to his compliment. Satisfied, Naruto hefted his bag of clothes over his shoulder. "Well guys, it's getting late. I'm gonna head home. We have a long day tomorrow after all."

Lee nodded. "Yes, I will see you tomorrow bright and early Naruto. Try not to be late."

"G-goodnight, Naruto-kun" Hinata muttered.

"Yeah, yeah I won't be. Goodnight guys." With that Naruto was off in the direction of his home.

An awkward silence passed between Lee and Hinata. Naturally, Lee was the one to break it. "You like him, do you not?" Hinata gave one of her usual "eeps" and began blushing harder than Lee had ever seen. "Sorry, sorry. Not what I expected to say either. It is just strange. Earlier you told me that your family said he was dangerous and that you should stay away from him. And so you go and develop a crush on him? What is with that?"

Hinata quietly stared at her feet. It took her a minute to gain her composure. No one had ever called her out on her affection for the boy. She knew she didn't hide it well and yet no one had ever bothered to ask. Now when someone did she didn't know how to answer. So she just tried being honest.

"B-back before we started the academy. I was being picked on by some boys. N-Naruto came to my rescue and the boys beat him up. I just left him there." Lee had to stand close to hear Hinata. They were still in the middle of the street which was still fairly noisy. "After that I started paying attention to him. I was fascinated by him. Everyone picked on him, called him names, and told him he would fail. But he just kept on trying. Anytime someone told him he would fail he simply replied he was going to become Hokage."

Hinata's voice was getting louder. "I admired that. That strength he had. That confidence. To me it looked like he was absolutely glowing." Hinata began to blush heavily again before continuing. "Gradually, I just fell in love with him. He was everything I wanted to be, if I could be with him, surely some of that would rub off on me. And now I'm his teammate. It makes me so happy to be with him and yet so sad to see the way he is treated." Hinata stood straight and looked at Lee suddenly. "I have to know why he is treated that way. So I can help him, no matter what it is."

Lee was shocked. He had definitely not expected that. Lee could now honestly say he knew Hinata better than he ever knew her cousin, and it had only been one day. That confidence at the end seemed to blow all the other times out of the water. She was determined. He was too. They would help Naruto together. They would be there for him. As his friends, they would make sure he didn't have to suffer.

"Right, so first we need to pool everything we know." Lee started knocking off points on his fingers. "Tomorrow we shall see if Guy-sensei has any insight to give us. From there we will start doing things such as looking up stuff at the library and asking people who are close to him. There has got to be something."

Hinata nodded. They both started walking down the street. "Good," Lee said "We know dogs don't like his smell." Lee began knocking off points again as they continued their conversation into the night.


	5. Investigation

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_Investigation_

* * *

Lee landed into the clearing where his team met up every morning. He was fifteen minutes early today but Guy-sensei and Hinata were there as expected. She was in the new attire they bought yesterday. After the conversation Hinata and himself had the night before they decided to confide their findings to Guy-sensei and see if he could give them any insight. So naturally they had to be there early so Naruto wasn't around. Not that he was likely to be on time anyway, at least Lee hoped not.

"Lee!" Guy-sensei wasn't quiet even during this early time of the day. "I see you have come earlier than expected. Hinata arrived here just five minutes ago herself. It is great to see your flames kicked so high this early in the morning!" Guy-sensei gave them his nice guy pose as he talked.

Lee hated to not respond to his Sensei with his own youthful speech but they had to get the talk over with. So when he spoke in a normal volume, their Sensei turned immediately serious.

"Hinata and I have something we wish to discuss Guy-sensei." Lee watched closely for anything Guy might do to let him know he knew what they wanted to talk about. Seeing none, Lee continued, "It is about Naruto, we have noticed the way he has been treated and we tried to come up with reasons as for why." Guy-sensei nodded slowly. Lee knew something was up now. He never knew his Sensei to respond in such a sullen manner. He had to know something.

"We were hoping you would tell us anything you knew." Lee stepped away from their previous plan to present him the information and then ask. Hinata noticed this too but remained quiet. Lee knew their Sensei better than she. He must have had a reason for not sharing their knowledge.

Guy looked thoughtful. "I cannot tell you." He finally said, his voice at a normal level now. Lee was about to protest but Guy held up his hand. "It is Naruto's business. You wouldn't want me unveiling all your secrets to him, would you?" He gave both of this students a meaningful look. They both looked ashamed. Guy thought about it for a moment. He could at least give them one more clue. "Besides, I am not too sure I would feel comfortable committing a capital offense." Both of them looked up surprised.

"W-what do you mean capital offense?" Hinata's mind was spinning. One more piece of the puzzle had just fallen into their laps. It fit well with the piece that her family said he was dangerous. It would also account for some glares. If people had said something to get themselves punished through death, of course the family would blame Naruto. But that was only three pieces. They had come up with a lot of them. It definitely didn't explain the dogs. Nor that seal she saw on his stomach when he gathered chakra. Or did it? Was that seal the offense?

"Funny question," Guy was back to his loud self. "I thought you would know what a capital offense is. I bet even Naruto there knows." Hinata and Lee both whirled to see Naruto running into the clearing, also in his new green attire. Hinata began panicking. Surely he hadn't heard them at all. He was just arriving. But that didn't mean he wasn't hiding, listening. What would he think of her?

"Sorry Guy-sensei, I didn't catch that." Naruto ran up panting. He didn't seem aware at all that they had just been talking about him. "Man, I'm the last one again. I thought I was doing good getting here early too." Naruto looked down in defeat, he had even ran again so as not to be the last.

"Not a problem Naruto! First or last doesn't matter! The important thing is you're on time! I am so proud to see you in green clothes as well. You make me so happy as a teacher!" Guy patted Naruto hard on the back, tears falling freely from his face. Naruto stumbled a little from his Sensei's strong touch but managed to stay on his feet. He wouldn't ever admit it, but even he was still sore slightly from yesterday. "Now, we'll start the same as yesterday, Hinata, come with me. Lee, make sure Naruto still remembers his stance. I want it done ten times right today! After that, continue where you left off." Lee saluted his Sensei as Naruto groaned. Guy led Hinata to the other side of the clearing.

"Ten times! Man this sucks." Naruto went into his stance and looked at Lee to get his criticism. Lee couldn't help it. He looked at Naruto and was immediately lost in thought. Was it worth just asking him? Probably not, they only knew each other for a day now. It would probably take a lot longer than that for Naruto to come out and trust him with such information. The looks definitely made him uncomfortable, no matter how well he hid it.

"Come on, Bushy Brow, not again." Lee snapped out of it. "You space out too much, you got some weird flames of youth or something." Lee smiled, Naruto wasn't quite up to him or Guy-sensei but his talk was already getting there.

"Forgive me. I am pleased to tell you that your stance is perfect. Do your lap and get in it again." Lee was impressed. Naruto did it all ten times without messing up. That was definitely not the results of a dead-last. Perhaps just another sign that his teachers had truly misguided him. When Naruto was done, Lee did as his Sensei instructed and they moved onto his drills.

* * *

"Tell me, Hinata. Do you know any of the moves other than the basic Jyuken style?" Guy was pretty sure he knew the answer but he might as well ask. As he figured Hinata shook her head. "What a shame, with a stance as solid as yours you are more than ready to learn more."

Hinata lowered her head in shame. "Thank you for your kind words Sensei, but only my clan can advance me farther in our style. They do not feel the same as you, however."

Guy laughed. Hinata looked up in surprise. Was Sensei making fun of her now? Did he agree with the clan? "Fortunately for you, young Hinata, I happen to know a few of your clan's trade moves. I'm not called a taijutsu expert for nothing." Hinata was speechless, what her Sensei said wasn't even possible.

Guy must have caught her disbelief because he quickly added, "Of course it is impossible for me to use your techniques. Not even my abilities are so great. But I have enough of a general understanding to teach some of them to you."

Hinata started to say, "I-I don't think my clan would app-"

"Your clan cannot dictate what I teach you. If they have any qualms, tell them to take it to my boss. You do know who my boss is right?" Hinata nodded. "Good." While Guy would gladly take any youthful challenge from the Hyuga clan, he doubted Hinata would be too happy he was beating up her family. Although, he doubted Neji would mind.

"Now tell me if you are familiar with the Juho Soshiken?" Guy asked. Hinata again shook her head. "It is a move where you gather chakra into your fists into the shape of a lion. It happens to be one of my favorite moves the Hyuga can use because it is more of a brute attack than other moves they use. It is also not hard to teach, the concept is simple and while it is chakra consuming, I believe you can do it just fine!"

Hinata was impressed. Her sensei walked her step through step of the technique. At first Hinata had a hard to getting anything but soon half her arms began to shimmer with chakra. Hinata felt something strange come over her as the chakra built up in intensity and soon her arms appeared to be emblazed in blue fire. Hinata could only describe the feeling as accomplishment. She was actually learning one of her clans techniques. She might be able to become the heir yet. Then her father would have to acknowledge her.

Soon though her chakra gave out and she was forced to rest for awhile.

"I'm sorry, Sensei" Hinata said in between breathes. "I will get this technique."

Guy was impressed. Hinata showed a knack for the jutsu already. That and her confidence seemed to be coming out, without the need of a push from anyone. "No need to rush yourself, we have many training sessions to get it. For now, let's spar lightly for the rest of the time. You can try more tomorrow." Hinata nodded. While she was disappointed that they couldn't continue this new move, Hinata knew her limits. She wasn't a stamina nut like Naruto. Thoughts of the boy brought a small blush to her face as she and Guy began sparring.

Everything after that went the same through the end of that rotation and the next two. Hinata sparred against Lee for an hour, building her confidence. Meanwhile, Guy came at Naruto as he tried to make use of his clones. Naruto seemed to retain quite a bit of what they had practiced yesterday and was even now pulling off things Guy hadn't suggested.

On their next rotation, Naruto had all but mastered the tree climbing exercise. Meanwhile, Lee and Guy went off to practice Lee's secret winning move. When Guy and Lee were done they came back into the clearing to Naruto hanging upside down from the tree and a smiling Hinata.

"Excellent work, Naruto!" Lee clapped for his teammate. Naruto rubbed the back of his head while he grinned happily down at them.

"And don't forget Hinata!" Guy said as he put his hand on her shoulder. "You are lucky to have such a great teacher, Naruto! Tomorrow you can now learn water walking!"

"Whoa, really? That's awesome, you're the best Hinata!" Naruto jumped down from the tree and gave his teammate a hug. She promptly passed out. Naruto looked sheepishly at his Sensei and other teammate. "Guess I just don't know my own strength?" They both shook their heads at his cluelessness.

She must have been tired because they weren't able to rouse her until close to eleven. She sat up groggily at first but then seemed to become aware of the company she was with. She shot up fast from the chair at Ichiraku's she was at. "I-I'm sorry! I don't know what happened. I-I didn't mean-"

"Slow down there Hinata!" Guy placed a hand on her shoulder to show he wasn't mad. "I can only take the blame as your Sensei. I should have realized that this new schedule would take some adjusting to. People don't get used to it overnight." Hinata nodded slowly after taking a few deep breathes. The blush was slowly leaving her face. "We can take the rest of the day off if you'd li-" Hinata suddenly shook her head violently.

"No, I wish to continue." She surprised herself with the sternness in her voice. Her blush heated back up. Now Lee and Naruto were giving her a concerned look. They surely thought she was holding them back. Even if she wanted to continue.

Guy needed no other convincing. "Okay, guys. You heard your teammate, we're heading to the Hokage Tower to get a mission."

"Yosh! A mission!" Naruto and Lee rang out together. Lee gave Naruto a peculiar look but Naruto just smiled back.

"Yosh, it's a cool word." He explained. "You don't mind do you?"

"Not at all. I am just surprised and refreshed by how open-minded you are Naruto! It is a great difference from that cold fish, Neji." Naruto blanched at the name. They both laughed and started running off towards the tower. The rest of the assembled group just stared.

They're so alike it's frightening" Teuchi muttered.

Ayame giggled. "I think it's cute, they're like brothers!"

"Speaking of family, I was meaning to ask," Teuchi addressed Guy who gave him his full attention. "Is that Lee fellow your son?" Hinata actually looked up curiously at that. She had been kind of wondering the same thing but decided not to ask.

Guy's laugh boomed across Konoha. "No, no, not my son! While Lee does look like me, the eyebrows are much too different. Mine are much thicker! Although Lee does try to imitate my daring good looks and I would give him an A plus on his attempt, there is just no comparing to the real deal!" Everyone stared at Guy with an open mouth. A fly could have easily landed inside any of them. "Well, Hinata, let's not fall too far behind!" He took off, followed quickly by Hinata.

"I really hope Naruto doesn't turn out exactly like that Lee boy." Teuchi muttered. "They're good guys but two is enough!"

"I don't know dad, Naruto would look good with a blond bowl-cut, don't you think?" Ayame laughed but her father just kept staring down the spot his customers disappeared from.

* * *

Naruto and Lee were dashing through the trees. Lee was going so fast he was almost a green blur. Naruto was also moving at great speeds but he wasn't even close to Lee yet.

"There it is!" Lee shouted.

"Where? I missed it!" Naruto looked around on the ground. Suddenly he saw it. Just a little brown blur. "Ah, I see it. It's going left Bushy Brow, you jump ahead to cut it off, I'll stay behind it!"

"Roger, good thinking, Naruto!" With a great jump Lee flew far ahead into the trees. Once he landed he quickly turned around and dove. Naruto dove for the blur at the same time. It was trapped now. At least, that's what they thought. The blur jumped high and with nothing in between, Naruto and Lee collided into each other.

Hard.

The blur, now distinctly a cat landed nimbly on top of them both. Much too nimbly for its overweight self.

It trotted off into Hinata's open arms as she looked in horror at that state of her teammates. "A-are you alright?" Hinata now petted the cat that was purring in her arms.

"That damn cat! I'll kill it!" Naruto rose to his feet while holding his nose, Lee's head had connected with it and Naruto was sure he heard a crack. The cat hissed at Naruto.

Lee just laid on the ground, holding his head. "I have fought bandits on C-rank missions that lacked a fire as intense as that felines! What a truly worthy opponent to have in this village!"

"Worthy is right!" Guy landed on the ground near his team. "You need to increase your weights again Lee! That cat is faster than you yet. After this mission I will get you more! After that we can begin our afternoon training!" Guy started leading the way back.

"I can't believe it took us five hours to locate and find that damn cat!" Naruto was glaring daggers at the object of his speech. The cat all too eagerly returned to glare. Hinata knew it shouldn't have been funny. But the sight of Naruto with his bloody nose, in a stare down with a cat made her giggle. Naruto for his part, tried to look offended. "What, you're on his side aren't you?"

"N-no Naruto-kun! I wouldn't ever betray you!" Hinata had taken him literally and the other context of her words caused her to blush deeply.

"I'm joking, it's okay Hinata. I know you're too nice to do something like that." Naruto was oblivious, he simply thought he'd offended her. Lee watched them with an amused smile the whole way.

* * *

The team sat breathlessly under a tree after their evening exercise. Guy stood over them smiling proudly, his chest heaving heavily thanks to his own rigorous workout. Naruto shivered slightly at the thought of what kind of training his Sensei had to do to be able to wear out himself out like that. The man's energy had seemed even more vast than his own. "Well that was quite the workout." Naruto yawned tiredly as he stood up. "I think I'm gonna go get me some ramen, you guys wanna join?" Naruto looked at his teammates.

"Yosh! My fire is barely flickering Naruto, I shall go home and to let it rekindle over the long night!" Lee jumped up but stumbled. He had clearly overexerted himself with his increase in weights.

Naruto looked at Hinata. "I-I have a few things to do before I will return home, but I'll see you tomorrow, Naruto-kun."

"Alright, I'll see you all tomorrow then!" Naruto turned around and strolled off.

They all watched him go. When he was just out of earshot Guy spoke. "Good look with your hunt for knowledge." When they turned around he was gone.

"H-how did he know?" Hinata looked mystified.

"Simple, he is Guy-sensei!" Enough said.

Hinata looked over at Lee. "So what is the plan?"

"I will explain in a second." Lee began rummaging through his back pouch. "Here we are!" Lee pulled out a scroll and unrolled it. With a quick hand sign a bag from the store yesterday was there.

"What is that?" Hinata peered over curiously.

"This, is the official start of our investigation!" Lee whipped out a deerstalker cap, a magnifying glass, and a smoking pipe. Lee was soon blowing bubbles from the pipe and looking at the grass with his magnifying glass.

"I don't understand." Hinata stared blankly at Lee.

"It is elementary my dear Hinata. Every detective needs a hat, pipe and, a magnifying glass! They cannot go detect stuff without it!" Lee nodded at his own brilliant reasoning.

Hinata just shook her head. "The plan?"

"Also elementary!" Hinata wanted to groan, they were wasting time. "We start at the library!" Hinata wondered if the pipe helped him come up with such a genius plan.

* * *

"Psst, Hinata come look at this!" Hinata sighed for the umpteenth time that night. She had just found another book on types of seals and was setting down to read it. Lee was waving her over to the book he was looking at. Not that he could read it with his magnifying glass making the words big and blurry. At least he was quiet, kind of. They had almost got kicked out upon entry thanks to her teammate.

"Naruto's birthday!" Lee whispered as Hinata appeared next to him. Hinata looked at it curiously.

"I can't read it, Lee-senpai." Hinata tried to brush his glass out of the way.

Lee just answered it for her. "It is October tenth, thirteen years ago." Hinata didn't need to ask now to know there was something special about that date. Everyone knew it was the day the Kyubi attacked. Did it have something to do with Naruto?

"What are you thinking?" Hinata looked at Lee expectantly.

"It should be treated as a clue even if it is not related. Everyone knows the Yondaime killed it. It would at least explain why Naruto's parents are dead. Lots of orphans were made because of that fox." Lee didn't say it, but he was one of them.

"Have you found anything on his parents?" Hinata was curious now. She had never heard Naruto mention them at all. She would have at least expected him to brag about his parents being awesome ninja every once in awhile but she wondered if he even knew their names sometimes. What Lee said next only confirmed her theory and confused her even more.

"It is strange. I looked up the last name Uzumaki but his is the only one in the village. From what I have gathered, the Uzumaki's were a clan of seal masters from the Whirlpool country." This startled Hinata quite a bit. Was Naruto a foreigner? Then it hit her.

"You said were?" Hinata didn't like the implications of that.

"Yeah, they were wiped out. Other villages feared their power so they just killed them."

"Then wouldn't that explain why Naruto is hated?" Hinata asked it but even she had her doubts on this theory.

"Not likely. Supposedly, the Shodai Hokage was also married to an Uzumaki. We were on good terms with them. That at least explains why we would have saved someone like Naruto." Lee's head was starting to hurt. There was more to Naruto than he at first thought possible.

"Maybe they feared the people that wiped out the clan would come looking here?" Hinata couldn't stop thinking of possibilities. Without even realizing it she said that last one.

"Maybe, we need more information. Did you find anything on seals?" Hinata shook her head.

"Nothing as complex as what he has. I just started this one but so far I don't recognize his at all." She was feeling useless. Compared to Lee she had found nothing. Maybe it was the hat? She stomped that thought before it got any further.

"Hmm…and the plot thickens." Lee scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Let us end here tonight. We should start asking people Naruto knows after one more day here." Hinata nodded. She was tired and they had training early again. So with that they retired their search for the night.

* * *

They both arrived the next morning with bags under their eyes. Neither of them had slept well at all from all the thoughts of Naruto running through their heads. Guy and Naruto both couldn't help but worry for the two of them.

"Guy-sensei, what do you think happened to them?" They were now on their second rotation and Guy was beating at his clones. "I never thought I'd see Bushy Brow tired for morning training." Naruto added.

"Yes, it is quite disturbing. I wouldn't trouble yourself too much with it, they'll be back to normal tomorrow." Guy wasn't going to say anything, but he had a good idea what had cost them their sleep.

Soon it was time for Hinata to teach Naruto water walking. They went to a nearby riverbank as instructed by Guy-sensei.

"Okay, Hinata, what do I gotta do?" Naruto peered anxiously at the water.

"What?" Hinata asked. She had gotten lost in thought on the way over. She hadn't even realized they were there and missed Naruto's question. "I-I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, what did you say?"

Naruto stared at her closely for a minute. Hinata could have sworn she saw the gears turning in his head. He was debating something. He finally just repeated his question.

"What I gotta do to walk on water?" Hinata couldn't help but wonder what other thoughts and possible questions had run through his head. What made her more nervous was the fact that he didn't ask them. Naruto usually asked whatever was on his mind. She put her own questions aside for later.

"Walking on water requires a steady stream of chakra. A lot more is used then when you walked on the trees but in a way this should make it easier for you." Hinata explained. "So just channel chakra into your feet and I will tell you if it is too much, same as with the trees."

Naruto nodded excitedly and began channeling his chakra. To Hinata's great surprise it was far too little this time. More than needed to walk on trees but not enough to walk on water. This spoke volumes for his increased chakra control. "More chakra, Naruto-kun." She told him quietly.

"Right, will do!" Naruto channeled a little more until Hinata told him it was alright. Naruto than took a hesitant step into the water. He didn't sink. Naruto placed his other foot in. "Heh, I got this!" Naruto went to take another step but lost his balance. He fell face first into the water. He walked out spitting water from his mouth. "What the hell happened?" He sat down, pouting like a little child.

Hinata couldn't help but giggle at his reaction. The funny way Naruto did everything could always make her laugh. Naruto looked at her and smiled slightly. He liked getting people to laugh.

Hinata began to explain what had happened. "When you lifted one foot you increased the flow of chakra onto the other foot. This caused you to slip. It's a common first mistake." Hinata would know, she had taken awhile to get it herself. It didn't help that she was only five when she was being taught.

"Ah, I get it, lets go again!" Naruto stood up but paused. He then started to take his jacket off.

"N-Naruto-kun!" Hinata blushed and turned around quickly. She knew he wasn't doing anything provocative but she couldn't help it.

Naruto turned and suddenly blushed a little himself. "Uhh, sorry Hinata, I can keep my shirt on if you want." Hinata shook her head quickly so Naruto just shrugged. He didn't want to get his clothes more wet. "Well, please watch me channel my chakra."

"R-right!" Hinata took a few calming breathes and turned around.. She nearly gasped.

There it was.

Naruto's seal, open completely to her sight now. She studied it for a second before she realized Naruto was eying her wearily. Realizing she was caught she figured she had to say something now.

"That is an interesting tattoo." She said slowly, watching Naruto's reaction. He had been very tense but some of it seemed to leave as she spoke. She realized she had to ask, she wouldn't get a chance like this again. "It almost looks like a seal, but I've never seen one like it." She had meant the statement to come across as off-hand but Naruto seemed immediately on guard again.

"If it is a seal, I wouldn't know. I've had it as long as I can remember." Naruto was talking slowly, carefully, Hinata realized. As far as she could tell he wasn't lying though. Maybe he didn't really know. "I always thought it was rather cool looking, right? I'm a real bad-ass with this!" Naruto laughed but Hinata could hear how nervous it was.

So she forced herself to giggle too. He looked satisfied. Good, she'd do anything to make sure he wasn't uncomfortable. "Now watch me master this!" Naruto started walking to the water.

"Naruto-kun, don't!" Hinata shouted too late. Naruto was airborne. He landed painfully on the ground, it was exactly like his first attempt at tree climbing.

"Right! Less chakra this time!" Naruto jumped to his feet and Hinata breathed a sigh of relief. Sometimes Naruto seemed invincible. Just maybe not emotionally. He was so guarded. In some ways even more so than herself. That left Hinata a great deal to ponder on.

* * *

Lee and Hinata walked through the streets of Konoha together again. Lee had his deerstalker on and the pipe was in his mouth. They were almost to the library when Hinata stopped.

Lee turned a peered at his teammate. "What is it?" He asked.

"Lee-senpai, I don't think we're going to find what we need here." Hinata couldn't be sure. But having looked at Naruto's actual seal she started to think it was much too complex to be in the library. "I say we just go to asking people close to Naruto."

Lee stared at her curiously for a minute before nodding. "I suppose you are right. We may cover more ground this way. We can always resort to the library later. So who do we start with?"

Hinata thought for a second before she knew who was first. "Iruka-sensei was an instructor at the academy and the only one to show Naruto-kun any kindness. He's definitely our best bet."

"Right, then let us go!" Lee started walking down the street.

"Lee-senpai…"

"Yes, Hinata?"

"The academy's that way." Hinata pointed in the opposite direction Lee was walking.

"Right! To the Academy!" Lee was now off in the right direction, an embarrassed Hinata following behind him.

* * *

Iruka saw quite a few of his students that had graduated in the past. In fact, he had already treated Naruto out the other night. It was nice to see his students and ask how they were doing in the ninja world. One student he never expect to see though, especially in his classroom again, was Hyuga Hinata. Not that he minded, he liked Hinata. She was quiet, a great student. However, he couldn't fathom why she had to bring Guy's miniature clone with her. Nor could he imagine why said clone was wearing a hat and blowing bubbles out of a pipe.

"Sensei, we have a question!" Lee wasted no time. Iruka had to wince. This boy was exactly like his Sensei, right down to the loud voice.

"Well I am an academy instructor, I would be happy to answer any questions you have." Iruka smiled in what he hoped was sincere at the spandex wearing ninja.

"Yes, why does everyone hate Naruto?" Iruka had to rethink his last statement. He would have happily answered any question but that one. He sighed and looked warily at the two students in front of him. To his surprise, even Hinata looked incredibly determined about this.

"Well, you know, Naruto ruined a lot of buildings with all-" Iruka had started to say.

"We know it's not pranks Sensei, the hostility is too much for something like that." Iruka was surprised. It was Hinata who had cut him off. Iruka was stuck now, he didn't know what to say. They were clearly on to something.

"You cannot tell us either, is it because of that capital offense?" Lee had to find a way to get something from him. "At least, tell us if Naruto knows why he is hated."

Iruka sighed again. These kids knew more than he thought. They had apparently been doing other research. "Yes, he knows." Iruka neglected the first question altogether. That was more than enough for them though.

They both bowed low. "Thank you Iruka-sensei!" They said in unison before getting up and leaving.

Iruka stared at the door in which they left. He really hoped that when they found out the truth, they would accept him anyways. It was apparent they at least cared, for now.

Hinata and Lee walked dejectedly now from the academy building. "That law has pretty much screwed us!" Lee announced his thoughts aloud.

Hinata only nodded. She had been thinking a similar thing. With that law everyone else they could have asked was knocked out. Except maybe the Hokage himself but they couldn't go there. Now, there was only one person she could turn to. She wouldn't be able to do it with Lee this time though. She would truly be on her own.

"Lee-senpai." Lee looked at her curiously. Her voice quivered a little when she spoke next. "Tomorrow, go to the library without me."

"What, where will you be? Please do not tell me you are giving up!" Lee stopped and put his hand on Hinata's shoulder. "We need to do this together! For Naruto, remember?"

Hinata shook her head fiercely. "I will never give up on this! No, tomorrow...I am going to ask my father."

* * *

Hyuga Hiashi was known by the rest of the village as a strict man. He couldn't agree more with them. Of course he was strict, the duties of his clan forced him to be. It was this strictness that had caused him to all but abandon his first daughter so he could focus on his second-born, who showed much more skill in the Hyuga ways. Hinata had been too weak, she lacked resolve. Something Hiashi was sure she would never gain. So when she called to meet with him, he was more than just a little surprised by the intense look in her eyes. Something had happened. He hoped to find out in this conversation what it was.

"Father, there is something important I wish to discuss with you." Hiashi almost visibly raised an eyebrow. Now her stutter was gone too? What was going on with his daughter?

"Then speak, you wouldn't have called me if there wasn't something to discuss, you are wasting my time." Hiashi wanted to see if he could bring out his daughters nerves. Find out if they were really gone for good.

"It is in regards to my teammate, I am concerned about the treatment he gets from the rest of the village, my own clan included." Now Hiashi was really curious. Not only had his attempt to bring her down been a failure but she wanted to talk to him about her teammate. What did her teammate have to do with the clan? Who were her teammates anyway? Hiashi realized he hadn't even bothered to ask who she was teamed up with. Just another part of the exile of his daughter. He practically didn't talk to her anymore. He had missed a lot he realized.

"Yes, your teammates. Who are they again?" He watched his daughter narrow her eyes the slightest of a fraction. It would have been lost on anyone else but him. She had apparently not missed that he didn't know her teammates to begin with.

"Rock Lee, and Uzumaki Naruto." Hiashi knocked over his tea. Uzumaki Naruto? Now her questions made sense. The treatment of the boy was obvious. But what was her angle? Why did she want to know? The tea he had spilt was the last thing on his mind now.

"I could arrange for your teams to be switched." He started slowly. "If you are concerned with being on his team."

"That is precisely the problem." Hinata was now visibly upset from his suggestion

"Excuse me?" Hiashi couldn't help it. He didn't understand his daughters statement.

"You all just assume that he should be exiled. You don't think about him as a person at all. You just look at him like he's some sort of monster. I'm sick of you all treating Naruto-kun that way, I want to know why!" Hinata started panting heavily, then she quickly regained her composure. Naruto-kun? How close was his daughter to this boy? The longer this conversation, the more questions Hiashi was going to end up having.

"I can't explain it to you." Hiashi was going to say more but his daughter cut him off.

"That law extends even into the Hyuga clan? Just what exactly is the law around Naruto-kun?" Hiashi's mouth was agape. Not even Hanabi would dare cut him off while he was talking. What's more, Hinata knew of the law. At least that there was one. He realized he had to end this conversation fast.

"I will answer this one question, but the conversation is over after this." Hinata nodded ever so slightly. At least she was willing to compromise "Shortly after Naruto was born a law was passed that we are not to speak of what causes us to hate him, this was to keep your generation from knowing. He was supposed to live happily. Instead, all the parents of your generation told their children to hate the boy but not why. So they did. The law was a failure, but it is still in place and punishable by death. The only one who can tell you is the boy himself."

"Thank you, father." Hinata stood and left the room. Hiashi rubbed his temples. He had missed so much with his daughter. It was obvious that this Naruto boy was the reason for this drastic change. Hiashi could only hope that it continued. Even if he didn't like the boy. He looked down, he could think about that later. He had tea to clean.

When Hinata closed the door she took a deep breath. That may have been the hardest thing she had done her whole life. She had been constantly afraid of her father to snap at her, call her worthless, something, anything but what happened. Instead it had been her father who broke composure and knocked over his tea. While she didn't get the answer she wanted, she at least got another puzzle piece, she would have to tell Lee tomorrow morning.

* * *

Lee and Hinata settled into their fighting stances. Hinata launched herself at him. She swung hard but Lee ducked and performed a leg sweep. Hinata back flipped out of the way. When she landed she swung low this time. Lee side stepped out of the way and brought his knee up to connect with her stomach. Hinata jumped over the knee and rolled on the ground. When she got back up Lee was coming at her again. Hinata smiled. Now was her chance to tell him she had another puzzle piece. He would be caught off guard and she could land a hit.

"I figured out his secret." Hinata stumbled. Did Lee really just say that? She didn't have time to think about it as Lee clocked her in the side of the head. Hinata dropped hard. Lee settled down on the grass and smiled proudly at her.

Hinata ignored the throbbing pain in her head as she sat up. She had to know. "You figured-"

"Sure did!" Lee gave her the thumbs up. "I know exactly why the village fears him now."

Hinata couldn't take the suspense. "Well what is it?" She asked in a hushed whisper.

"Naruto is..." Lee paused for dramatic effect.

"Yes, what?" Hinata leaned in even closer.

"...a human exploding tag."

Hinata stared at him for a minute, her mouth hung open.

Really?

That was what he'd come up with? She suddenly couldn't believe she had gotten excited for that. It figured.

Lee must have saw the doubt because he started talking quickly. "Look, it makes sense. We could not find what seal was in the book probably because it was forbidden. A seal that blows you up is bound to be forbidden. I mean, that is why parents tell us to stay away from him, they fear he could blow up at any time. They are scared. It also explains the dogs. You know how they get scared before a storm because they can sense it? It ia the same here."

"What about the law?" Hinata seethed. For the first time in her life she found it hard to control her temper. "What about everyone calling him a demon? How do those fit into your brilliant idea?"

"It's a work in progress but listen, I think we're heading in the right direction." Lee was starting to get nervous. Hinata was looking pissed.

Hinata sighed. "You're right Lee-senpai." She smiled sweetly at him.

"I am?" Lee didn't like that smile.

"Of course, let's spare some more now." Hinata stood slowly and settled into her stance

Lee gulped. He had a feeling the rest of his time with Hinata was going to be painful.


	6. A Day With You

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_A Day With You_

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Sherlock Holmes, or Toire no Hanako-san**  
**

* * *

Naruto walked slowly through the streets of Konoha. It was five-thirty in the morning. Today was Sunday and as Guy-sensei had explained the night before, they would have every Sunday off completely to themselves. Naruto had cheered at this announcement. While he liked his new team a lot and all the training was great, he needed time off. He would at least enjoy sleeping until two in the afternoon.

At least that was what he thought. Yet he found himself up at quarter to five. Try as he might he just couldn't force himself back into sleep. So he gave up and decided to walk around the village. As Naruto soon discovered, the village was boring at five in the morning. No one was up and as such there was no activity. At least no one was glaring at him. Without even thinking about it, Naruto walked into the training ground where his team always met up.

To his surprise, Hinata was also standing there. Her back was turned and she hadn't noticed him yet. So he got her attention. "Yo, Hinata! You couldn't sleep either?" Naruto didn't think he had been quite that loud, at least compared to Guy-sensei but Hinata jumped and squeaked in surprise. She turned around and waited for Naruto to walk up to her.

"Good morning, Naruto-kun." Hinata bowed and smiled slightly at him. "No, I couldn't sleep. It just doesn't feel right anymore. I unconsciously ended up here."

Naruto chuckled at what she said. "That's pretty funny, the same thing happened to me. It's so boring in this village in the morning. I wonder what Bushy Brow and Guy-sensei do?"

"They are probably running laps around the village." Naruto laughed hard at Hinata's answer. She blushed after she spoke. When had she gotten so good at just talking to Naruto? A week ago it was so hard just to stand close to him.

"You're really funny Hinata. I never would have guessed that before. You were always so quiet and weird when we were in class." Hinata looked down as Naruto spoke. He thought she was weird? But he had also just said she was funny. His opinion must have changed, right? Hinata wanted to laugh. She never would have thought that second part a week ago. She would always stop at the negative parts but lately it was getting easier for her to think more positive thoughts.

"You know what else is kind of funny," Naruto said. "A week ago, everything seemed so different. It feels like I'm a completely different person now!" Hinata smiled again.

"I was thinking the same thing just now. I'm glad to have been placed on a team with them." And more importantly on a team with you, Hinata added in her head. She didn't have near enough confidence yet to say it aloud. Maybe someday soon she would. She could only hope.

Naruto gave Hinata a big smile. She was so much different from Sakura. Hinata never hit him or yelled at him. She was really nice. Thoughts of Sakura almost immediately brought him down. He had told Lee that he would give up on her but it was proving hard to do. Feelings just didn't disappear. Thinking of that bet brought up another thought. He needed to get Lee a girlfriend still. Suddenly a light-bulb went off in Naruto's head. He knew how he could spend the day.

"Hinata!" Naruto shouted suddenly. Naruto placed his hands on her shoulders and looked her right in the eyes.

"Y-Yes!" Naruto's shout caught her off guard and she found his look very unnerving.

"I have a very important question to ask you, please answer me honestly." Naruto's voice was deadly serious. "Don't worry about hurting my feelings. I won't be upset if you say no."

Hinata's mind was spinning. A question? It wasn't possible. Did Naruto want to ask her out on a date. It was all developing too fast. Visions of Naruto and herself holding hands, going to the movies, and eating together came into her mind almost too fast to comprehend.

"Will you go out with…" Here it came. All she had to do was say yes. Hopefully she didn't pass out. "...Bushy Brow." Naruto finished.

"Ye- wait, who? Lee-senpai?" Hinata didn't understand. What had just happened? Naruto thought she liked Lee? That wasn't possible. Had he noticed them spending time together?

"Yeah, yeah, Lee, Bushy Brow, same thing. You remember I promised to get him a girlfriend? Well that's what I'm gonna do today. I will get Bushy Brow his first date! It'll make things really easy if you like him though. The only thing I'll have to do is find him." Naruto nodded happily to himself while it all clicked together for Hinata. Naruto didn't want to go out with her. But he also didn't think she liked Lee. He was just making good on his promise. That meant Hinata wasn't doomed to failure yet.

"Sorry, Naruto-kun, but I don't like Lee-senpai that way." Hinata pressed her index fingers together. "T-there is someone I already like." She said it. Maybe he would pick up on it?

Naruto's brow furrowed as he looked at her. "You like Sasuke too, huh? Not a big surprise though. All the girls like that jerk." Hinata's mouth was agape, that had not gone as planned. It was time to back-track. Her heart wouldn't be able to take this much longer.

"I-I don't like Sasuke-san." She tried to say more but her mouth stopped working on her.

"Really?" Naruto looked at her suspiciously for a moment. Then he smiled brightly at her. "That's right, you're way to smart to like someone like him. He wouldn't treat you right anyway. A nice girl like you deserves much better!" Naruto gave her a imitation of their Sensei's nice-guy pose. To her surprise, his smile even seemed to glow slightly. Hinata felt her face heating up at Naruto's praise.

"Alright, well that knocks you and Sakura-chan out for girlfriend candidates. We're going to have to wait awhile but once the day gets going I know just the girl to ask next!" Naruto nodded to himself while all his brilliant ideas whirled.

"W-we?" Hinata was pressing her index fingers together again.

Naruto stopped his plotting to look at Hinata. "Sorry, Hinata. You don't have to spend the day with me helpin-"

"I'll do it!" Hinata surprised them both. She hadn't meant to but at the words "day with me" she couldn't help herself. She would've given anything for a chance like this a week ago. Now that the chance just fell into her palm, she wouldn't let it go, no matter what happened.

"Awesome, you really are the best Hinata! It'll be way easier to convince Ino with another girl around." Naruto started walking away from the training ground.

Hinata jogged up to him and then fell into pace with his walk. "Did you just say Ino?" Hinata definitely had her doubts about that. It was going to end up exactly like what had happened with Sakura. Maybe worse.

"Of course. Ino is a perfect start. I know right where they'll be at ten anyways!" They were now back into the open streets. Hinata wasn't even sure if he had a current destination in mind. Ten o'clock was still four hours away.

"How do you know that, Naruto-kun?" Hinata couldn't figure out how Naruto would know something like that. She knew he liked Sakura but maybe he liked Ino too? Hinata shook her head. Naruto was definitely not like that.

"Simple, the only person with a bigger appetite than me is Choji and he eats at the same place every morning at ten. He used to just drag Shikamaru there but now I hear it's the whole team's meeting spot." Hinata wanted to know where Naruto had learned this as well.

Soon the two fell into a repeated pattern. Hinata would ask Naruto a question and he would spout out answers. Sometimes he would rant on for half an hour. This continued as they walked through the village, occasionally taking a rest at a bench on the streets. Hinata couldn't ever remember having talked, or laughed for that matter, so much in her whole life. Even just this short few hours with Naruto made her forget all about her problems.

It was ten o'clock much too soon for Hinata's taste. She had really enjoyed the morning but now it was down to business. The hunt for Lee's girlfriend was on. She just wished it didn't have to start with Ino. Hinata looked up at the Korean Barbecue they now stood in front of. She couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive about entering. The last time Naruto had entered a restaurant things hadn't gone too well.

Naruto, in a rare moment of insight, picked up on her unease. "Don't worry, whenever I skipped class with Choji we would end up here." Hinata looked at Naruto curiously. She had been under the impression that he had always been alone. She didn't know when he had cut class it had ever been with anyone else. Then again, there were a lot of things about Naruto she didn't know. Her train of thought was interrupted as she noticed he was going in.

Naruto pushed the door open and walked in, followed closely by Hinata. Looking around, Naruto found exactly the people he was looking for. Just as predicted. Hinata was surprised. She had actually not expected to see Ino here. But here she was, albeit she didn't look happy about it, with her teammates and the one Hinata assumed was their Sensei.

Naruto walked on over. "What's up guys? Long time no see." Team Ten looked up at Naruto. Ino and Shikamaru groaned while Choji ate his food a little faster. Like he was afraid Naruto was going to take some. Hinata almost giggled at the thought.

Their Sensei was the only one to actually reply. "Hey there kid, the name's Asuma. I see you know my young students here. So tell me, to what do we owe you this pleasure?" Asuma watched Naruto carefully. He was well aware of the boy's reputation as a prankster. He didn't want to end up on the receiving end of his pranks.

"Actually, I'm here to talk with Ino." Naruto pointed to the blond girl.

"What, me? Why me?" Can't you bug Shikamaru?" Ino looked shocked. Her mentioned teammate said something about "troublesome blonds" but she decided to ignored it for the moment. This new development was much more curious. Naruto had never really talked to her. The only girl Naruto ever really looked at was Sakura. Maybe it was a jealousy approach to win her over. Ino wanted no part of it. Then she noticed Hinata.

Naruto was pulling out a team picture that they had taken just a couple days ago. Naruto loved this picture. He had one in a frame at home. He had made a copy though so she could show the girls just who Lee was. Not that looks were a great approach but the girl who accepted might as well know what they were in for.

"Oh ho!" Ino was now in between Naruto and Hinata. Naruto hadn't even seen her move and jumped when she spoke up. He almost dropped his picture in surprise. "This sure is cute. The two of you on a date, huh?" Hinata blushed heavily and suddenly found her feet very interesting. "Even dressed similarly, you two are just so adorable!" Ino squealed to herself.

"We're not on a date." Naruto deadpanned. Ino nearly fell over.

"Then why the hell are you here? I thought maybe you were going to ask me about getting her flowers!" Ino was getting pissed. Just what did this kid want?

"I want you to go out with someone." Naruto said in his serious voice.

"W-what? Who? Is he good looking? Is it Sasuke-kun?" Naruto's seriousness caught her off guard and she found she couldn't help but be a little curious.

"This guy right here." Naruto indicated to the part of the picture Lee was in and Ino peered curiously. "His name is Rock Lee and-" Naruto never got to finish his sentence as Ino sent him out the window. Naruto landed painfully on his back outside the restaurant. Thankfully, it was an open window with no glass.

"Is this some kind of joke, Naruto? I should kill you!" Yep, she was pissed. Naruto had expected as much but he had been hoping. Hinata quickly ran around from the side of the restaurant to him.

"Are you okay, Naruto-kun?" She bent over him and offered her hand to help him up.

Naruto grabbed it and just as he got up he saw Ino, kunai drawn, stepping out the window. "Time to go, Hinata." Without letting go of her hand he took off down the streets, pulling Hinata along the whole way. They weaved through the streets that were steadily filling with people. They didn't have to go many blocks though before Naruto decided it was safe enough. "Whew, that sure was close! I really thought she was going to kill me. Right Hinata? Hinata?"

Hinata's voice wouldn't work. For that matter her brain wouldn't work. The only thought that kept running in her head was 'I'm holding hands with Naruto-kun'. Hinata could have died right there and she would've been content.

Naruto just then realized they were still holding hands and immediately let go. "S-sorry Hinata. I didn't even realize…" Naruto couldn't think how to finish. He was too scared. If he had done that to Sakura he would have been six feet under by now. Surely Hinata was going to snap at any second.

With the warmth of his hand gone, Hinata managed to find her voice. "I-I don't mind, Naruto-kun."

Naruto was astonished. She wasn't going to kill him? "You don't? Are you sure you're not mad? Your face is pretty red."

Hinata shook her head. "I wouldn't get mad over something like that, Naruto-kun. I'm not like Sakura-san." Hinata wasn't sure why she said Sakura's name but it came out. Suddenly she couldn't help it, she had to say it. "I don't see why you like her so much anyways. She is always so cruel to you." Naruto was suddenly very quiet. Hinata regretted what she said and was about to apologize when Naruto answered.

"She didn't really have any friends. I mean at first she had Ino but they stopped talking. No one really liked her. Everyone made fun of her forehead. It wasn't something she had any control over but they ripped on her for it and refused to hang out with her. I felt we were alike. So I decided I liked her. Because we are similar." Naruto stared at the street the whole time he talked.

"I always thought you and I were similar." Hinata's words caused Naruto to look up in surprise. Hinata steeled her nerves and kept talking. "You were shunned by the whole village. I was shunned by my whole clan. I want nothing more than to become the clan heiress and be acknowledged by everyone in the clan, especially by my father. Just like how you want to become Hokage so the whole village will acknowledge you." It was Hinata who was now staring at the street.

Naruto was shocked. He had never known that about Hinata. He always thought she had got on really well with her family. To think that they treated her like the village treated him made him angry. "Your family is a bunch of morons." Hinata now looked up. "Anyone who would treat you, the nicest person I know, like garbage are the lowest form of scum I can think of. No one treats my teammate that way!" Naruto stopped walking and Hinata followed suit.

Naruto stuck his fist out towards Hinata. "I vow with all my power that I'll do everything I can so that we both accomplish our dreams and get accepted by the people we want it from!" Hinata almost couldn't hold it in. She was so close to crying but she couldn't do that in front of Naruto. He made her so happy, the last thing she wanted was for him to think he was making her sad. So she smiled at him instead.

She knocked her fist into his. "I make the same vow. We will be accepted." She whispered.

Then a third fist knocked into theirs. This one came from Konohamaru who stood just below them. "I don't know what kind of vow we're making but I swear to it as well, Boss!" Suddenly two more fists knocked into theirs and Naruto turned to see Moegi and Udon had joined them as well.

The sight of the new arrivals reminded Naruto of his original goal. How fortunate that his next target would come right to him. "Moegi, it's good to see you!" Naruto squatted down and put a hand on Moegi's shoulder.

"Huh, what's up with that boss, don't ignored me!" Konohamaru whined and tugged on Naruto's sleeve. Naruto ignored him anyway.

"Tell me, you wouldn't happen to have a crush on anyone at the moment would you?"

Moegi looked down and blushed at her feet. "Boss…" She started.

"Yeah?" The anticipation was killing him.

"Boys have cooties." Naruto fell backwards.

"Never mind, let's go Hinata!" Naruto got up and started walking off. A very perturbed Hinata walking after him. The Konohamaru Corps. just stared at them curiously as the two walked off.

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked after a hesitant second.

"Yeah?" Naruto gave her a quick glance.

"Did you really just try to set Lee-senpai up with that little girl?" Hinata had felt herself lose a little respect for Naruto at that moment.

"No, of course not." Naruto waved it off. "Hey is that who I think it is?" Naruto asked suddenly.

"Don't change the subject, Naruto-kun. There are laws, you can-"

"No, no. Bushy Brow's old teammate. Ninenine or something like that." Naruto pointed to where he was looking.

"You mean Tenten?" Hinata shook her head. Sometimes she had to remind herself why she loved him.

"Yeah, that's her name! Quick we can't let her get away!" Naruto took off after her. Hinata of course followed. But not before making another vow to continue this conversation later.

"Hey, Tenten, wait up!" Naruto roared through the crowd. Hearing her name, Tenten turned around to see both of Lee's new teammates running up to her. She smiled at them. She had actually been hoping to run into them some time. Although she figured Lee would be with them. "Caught up to you." Naruto stopped just in front of her.

"Good morning, Tenten-san" Hinata said as she caught up.

"Morning there you two. How have you been adjusting to Guy-sensei's workout?" Tenten looked them up and down. They had already changed their clothes to green since she'd last seen them.

"It's tough, getting up at five every morning was a pain at first but we're getting it. Exercising after those missions though always leaves a burn." Naruto replied calmly but Tenten's mouth fell open.

"You mean you guys actually go through that ridiculous schedule he has Lee doing?" Tenten was horrified. She didn't think anyone could possibly keep up with those two.

"Of course. Didn't you?" Hinata was curious now. While she knew Neji didn't go through with it she had at least assumed Tenten had.

"No way! That is insane! Who needs to work that much? Besides, I'm a weapons specialist. Best in my class. I don't need to learn that kind of Taijutsu." Tenten shook her head at the two in front of her.

"You're a genius too?" Naruto narrowed his eyes slightly at Tenten.

"Well, I'm no Neji but I guess some would call me that, I've always been gifted with good accuracy." She had a feeling Naruto wasn't a fan of geniuses but there was no denying it to him.

"Than, I challenge you to one on one combat!" Naruto shouted. "If I win you have to agree to go on a date with Bushy Brow." A minute of silence passed between the Genin.

"Bushy Brow?" Tenten had to ask.

"You know, Lee!" Naruto shouted. Did no one see the eyebrows?

Tenten thought for another second. "And if I win, you agree to do one thing I say?" Naruto had not anticipated that. Whatever though. She had accepted. Good enough for him.

"Alright, let's do this!" Naruto shouted and formed the ram seal.

"Umm, Naruto-kun." Hinata whispered to him.

"What is it Hinata? I'm about to fight here." Naruto looked at Tenten and saw she too, was looking at him oddly.

"We're still in the middle of the street, people are staring." Naruto looked around to confirm what Hinata had said. As usual, she was right.

"Of course, to the training ground!" Naruto walked off much too proudly. Hinata and now a laughing Tenten followed. This was going to be easier than she thought.

Fifteen minutes later, Naruto and Tenten stood facing each other in Team Guy's typical clearing.

"Sure you want to do this?" Tenten asked. "I don't want to humiliate you in front of your girlfriend."

"I won't be the one humiliated! That person is you! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto formed his favorite seal and three clones popped into existence. "Charge!" They all started running towards Tenten.

"Shadow Clones, huh?" Tenten remarked calmly. "Well this will be interesting." She pulled out a scroll and made a hand sign. The clones stopped fast and watched wearily for her jutsu. A kusarigama popped out, Tenten grabbed it and placed the scroll back in her pouch. The weapon consisted of a small kama on one end with a weighted ball attached to a lengthy chain on the other.

"I'll give you a handicap." She announced. "This weapon here is the only one I'll use." She dropped the weighted end and began swinging it around from its chain.

"Don't underestimate me!" All the clones rang out. With one fluid motion they all hurled a kunai at Tenten. Still swinging the ball she easily deflected all the kunai skyward.. As each one fell downwards she nailed them with the kama and sent them flying at the Narutos. The handle of the kunai knocked them each in the forehead protector. All but one was extinguished. Tenten launched herself at Naruto and swung the blade down.

"Damn!" Naruto cursed and formed the seal again. A clone popped up behind himself. The clone grabbed Naruto by the collar and pulled him backwards, throwing him into the air and safely out of Tenten's swing.

"Not so fast!" Tenten swung the ball again, beaming the new clone which popped quickly out. Naruto was still in midair from the way his clone had thrown him. Making another clone underneath himself, Naruto angled his feet so he could jump off of it. Adding a little chakra to his feet, Naruto launched skywards. He pulled out three shuriken and whipped them down at his target. "Didn't you learn last time?" Tenten knocked all three back at Naruto as he started his fall. With no way to dodge he made another clone which intercepted the attack and popped. Naruto made two more that caught him before he hit the ground.

"You're not bad…at defending." Tenten taunted. "Is that all Guy-sensei has taught you how to do, hide behind your clones?" Naruto smirked.

"He taught me more than that, he also taught me that surprises can kill!" Suddenly the clone Naruto had jumped off of grabbed onto Tenten from behind.

"Got'cha now!" The clone had her arms locked. Tenten struggled to get free but the clone had an iron grip on her. The other three Naruto's started to charge her now. Tenten thought fast. Fortunately for her, Naruto was much shorter than her and his clone's feet weren't on the ground. That meant he couldn't anchor himself to it. Tenten pushed the chakra into her feet and launched herself upwards, clone and all. The clone clearly had not expected that and loosened his grip just for a second. It was enough though for Tenten to break free. With a spinning kick, she sent it crashing down onto the other Narutos. Still in the air she began spinning the ball again.

Naruto lost all his clones and was bowled over himself from the shock of the impact. He was just getting to his feet when the chain begun spinning around him. It quickly wrapped itself around the young Genin and he toppled over. Tenten then landed roughly on top of him and pushed her blade to his throat.

"My win!" She grinned coyly down at her captive.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata ran up to her blond teammate, worry apparent in her eyes.

"Don't worry Hinata." Naruto gasped out. It was hard for him to breathe with the chain wrapped tightly around his body and a girl sitting on top of him. "I'm alright."

"You got spirit, I'll give you that." Tenten remarked as she stepped off of him. She summoned the weapon back into her scroll and then offered Naruto a helping hand.

Naruto ignored it and slowly got to his feet, gasping hard. Hinata wanted badly to go over to him and lend him her shoulder but she didn't want to further hurt his pride. Tenten had got him pretty good. "Naruto-kun." She said quietly to herself.

Not quietly enough though because Naruto heard her. "Hey, don't worry about it Hinata. Stuff like this is nothing new to me." Naruto gave her a smile that she instantly knew was fake.

"That loss is nothing to be ashamed of. I'm a Genin a year ahead of you. Of course there is going to be a gap. The important thing is you caught me off guard with that clone. Not even Sasuke-san has managed to get me like that yet."

"I did better than Sasuke?" Naruto looked up with a new sense of pride in his eyes. Knowing he did better than that jerk was the best news he had heard all day.

Tenten smiled. "Don't let it go to your head though, I still kicked your ass. Now I believe you owe me a favor." Naruto gulped. He couldn't imagine what this girl would ask of him. Tenten stepped closer and put a hand on both Naruto and Hinata's shoulders. Naruto was really nervous now. She had a really serious look on her face. "Take good care of Lee for me. I know it may not seem it, but I worry about the guy. He was a good teammate and I'm trusting you guys to keep him happy for me."

Naruto let out an instant sigh of relief. That was it? He smiled broadly at her. "No problem. Bushy Brow is our friend too. There's no way we'd let something happen to him!" Hinata nodded her agreement.

Tenten smiled again. "I'm glad to hear it. Now, go find him a good girlfriend."

"Yes!" Naruto and Hinata said together.

* * *

The two teammates now sat dejected at Ichiraku's. Every idea so far had failed. Sure they'd only tried four girls. Five, if you counted Hinata. Yet nothing had worked out at all and now they were out of girls they knew.

"This sucks!" Naruto voiced their thoughts for them. " I mean sure he dresses a little strange but they didn't give him a chance at all! I mean really! Who believes in cooties anymore? I thought only girls were supposed to have that anyway." Naruto ranted.

"Please don't bring up Moegi-chan." Hinata muttered darkly. She had still not entirely forgiven Naruto for that. Although she had kept her word and talked to him about it already.

"Sorry." Naruto mumbled. Even Hinata was scary when mad. At least she hadn't hit him.

"What seems to be troubling two of my favorite customers?" Teuchi had just arrived from the back to see the two depressed Genin.

"No girl will give Bushy Brow the time of day!" Naruto exclaimed. "He's a great guy, if only someone would give him a chance they would see that!" Naruto was back to his rant.

"Bushy Brow?" Teuchi scratched his head. "That older teammate of yours? He needs a date?"

"I promised I'd get him one but so far I got nothing." Naruto hit his head on the counter.

"Hmm…I may be able to help you out." Teuchi smiled evilly at his daughter as she emerged.

"What's with that look?" Ayame definitely didn't like it.

* * *

Naruto and Hinata stood on the edge of the village. They had finally got Lee a date but to their horror realized they had no idea where Lee was at all. Now they had less than a half an hour to find him and get him there. They had checked everywhere they could think of and this was their last bet. Hopefully their crazy teammate was running laps around the village.

They actually didn't have to wait long for their teammate to come running into sight. They both released a breath they hadn't realized they'd been holding. Lee smiled brightly when he saw his teammates.

"My youthful compatriots! How bright it makes my day to meet you here. Perhaps you have been running laps as well?"

"Bushy Brow, listen up, we gotta hurry!" Naruto said urgently.

Lee caught the urgency in his voice and became serious. "Do not tell me someone is hurt. The village is not under attack is it?"

"No, we got you a date. But if you don't get to Ichiraku's soon you're going to be late!" The urgency still very much in Naruto's voice.

"Huh?" Lee said stupidly.

"A date." Hinata repeated.

"With whom?" Lee asked, quickly recovering from his shock.

"Ayame-nee-chan!" Naruto grabbed onto Lee's arm and started pulling him.

"The ramen girl? But is she not a little old for me?" Lee was really confused now.

"Nah, she's seventeen, you're like fourteen. Three years is nothing for us shinobi. You never know what mission will be your last! That cat might do us in next time." Naruto was still pulling on Lee.

"But, I do not even know what to do on a date." Lee said lamely.

"Don't worry about that! I wrote you a list of what to do. Here take it. Read it on your way down. Trust me, this is golden. You'll have her swept off her feet by the end of the night!" Naruto stopped pulling, gave Lee a folded up piece of paper and then gave Lee his nice guy pose.

"Naruto!" Tears started to stream from Lee's eyes. "I thank you so much for giving me this passionate opportunity! I will not fail you!" Lee started running towards the ramen stand. His nose deep in Naruto's instructions.

"When did you write that?" Hinata looked at Naruto suspiciously. She hadn't seen him write anything down today.

"Well, I kinda lied. I didn't write it for him. I wrote that while we were at the academy. It was what I would've done." Naruto scratched his head sheepishly.

Hinata sighed. At least they had succeeded. She had nothing more to do with this.

"Well we need to get going too. Bushy Brow was going fast so it'll be hard to catch up to him."

"What?" Hinata snapped her head quickly to look at Naruto.

"I want to know how the date goes, don't you? I mean, I did write it up after all."

Hinata groaned. Of course they were going to follow them. But try as she might, Hinata couldn't quite kill the urge to know what Naruto planned out on a date. So she nodded her head and they ran off in the direction their teammate went.

* * *

Ayame stood outside her father's ramen stand. She felt very out of place when not in her restaurant attire. Her hair was still in its typical ponytail at least. She was in a bright yellow tee-shirt and pink pants that stopped above her ankles. She also wore what she figured were ninja sandals. Almost every ninja in the village wore them after all.

She couldn't believe he had talked her into doing this. The nerve of that man she called father. He had told her she spent too much time in the kitchen and not enough trying to find a boy. He had said he was doing it for her own good. Ayame wouldn't have had any qualm if it had been a good looking boy. Or at least one her age. Instead she got Naruto's crazy teammate. Naruto. The only reason she had even said yes was that damn pathetic look he had given her. She just couldn't say no to the one she had come to view as her little brother.

She heard Lee long before she saw him. The boy was like a freaking elephant with the way he was stomping on the ground as he ran through the village. Then the noise stopped. After a few seconds, she saw the boy walk around the corner of the shop, trying to look as if he'd walked the whole way. It would have been convincing if he hadn't been drenched in sweat.

He bowed low. "Ayame-san! I thank you so much for giving me the pleasure of your company tonight! I will make it a most youthful experience for you!"

Ayame sighed. She looked him up and down before speaking, "Down two points."

"Huh?" Lee looked at her blankly.

"Don't give me that look, the test has already begun. You lose two points for wearing the same clothes you always do, you have to dress up for a date, you know?" Ayame gave Lee a glare.

"B-but-"

"Anyways, at least you're on time. So I'll forgive you this once." Ayame cut off Lee's excuse. "So what's the plan, you do have a plan, right?" She looked at Lee expectantly.

"Of course!" Lee stood a little straighter. "I thought we should have a nice meal first, then we will go to a movie afterwards. Followed by that I thought we could take a nice stroll through the park and then I will walk you home!"

"Hmm, that's not bad. You pass there. So where are we going to eat?" Ayame gave him a thumbs up for his good answer.

"We're already here!" Lee said proudly.

"Huh?" Ayame looked around. Then she figured it out. "Who wants to eat at the place they work for a date? Down three points! Down four points!"

Lee wasn't the only one getting yelled at during that particular moment. Hinata was much more discrete though. They had a cover to keep after all. "Naruto-kun! How could you do that to Lee-senpai?"

"Sorry, sorry! I told you I wrote that at the academy, where else was I supposed to take a girl. You know the other restaurants would kick me out!" They both paused after he spoke. Hinata looked down sadly. Of course she knew that. She would just be damned if she knew why yet. Lee and her had continued their investigation but nothing predominant had come out yet. So they were bidding their time. Waiting for another piece to present itself. Yet the more they waited the more it seemed it would have to be up to Naruto to tell them.

Naruto didn't like Hinata's silence. It was worse than her quiet fury. "Hey, don't worry about it." Naruto started to say. "I'm just being an idiot, I'm sorry."

Hinata shook her head. "No, Naruto-kun, I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to yell at you."

"Alright, we're both sorry. So let's call a truce?" Naruto stuck his hand out.

"Yeah, okay." Hinata shook his hand and they both turned to observe Lee and Ayame some more.

In the end they had ended up eating at the noodle stand anyways. Much to Teuchi's amusement. Soon, Ayame and Lee finished their meal and he began leading her to the movies. Naruto and Hinata trailed by rooftop, always keeping right above the couple.

"Hey I got a question for you." Ayame asked suddenly.

"Ask away, Ayame-san! I will answer any question to the best of my nurturing ability!" Lee shouted.

"Down one point. You don't need to yell, talk to me, I'm right next to you." Ayame chastised.

"Sorry, it is a habit I picked up from Guy-sensei." Lee apologized in a normal tone this time.

"You learn fast, good." Ayame praised. "But your Sensei is my question. Why in the world do you dress and act just like him? He can't really seem that cool to you, can he?"

"Guy-sensei is the coolest! He practically glows with cool!" Lee was shouting again. Ayame gave him and look and Lee quickly apologized before continuing. "You see, Guy-sensei is the only reason I am a ninja. I lack the ability to do either Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, necessary ninja skills. But Guy-sensei took me in anyways and trained me to do Taijutsu. I owe my whole way of life to him. So the least I can do to honor him is to act like him. Continue his legacy when his youth fades and keep the legend of the Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha alive!"

Ayame digested what he said for a minute. "That's surprisingly heartfelt. I think I'm starting to see why Naruto-kun respects you so much." She added.

"Naruto respects me?" This new information surprised Lee.

"A real lot. He always talks about how hard you work and how he plans to train even harder so he can be a great ninja like you. It's nice to see he has someone he can idolize who's close to his age. You know he didn't have friends as a kid?" Ayame looked towards Lee as they walked down the street.

"Yes I do. But I do not know why. It pains me so much to see the villagers treat him that way. I feel like if I could just figure out why, I could help him. You would not know anything would you?"

"I'm afraid not." Ayame said quietly. "I have a feeling my father knows but he won't say anything. He says the best way we can help him is to be there for him, let him know we care. What's done is in the past and we have to move forward, for his sake."

Lee nodded. "Your father is a wise man, unfortunately his words do not hinder my need to know this secret. I will find out what it is." Lee held up his fist.

Naruto sneezed. Hinata and him jumped back, hoping that their targets hadn't heard.

"Man, I want to know what they're talking about!" Naruto whined. "Can't you hear them at all?"

Hinata shook her head. "We are too high up. We can't get closer and risk them catching us though. Besides, they need a little privacy." Hinata couldn't imagine how embarrassing it would be to find out you were being spied on during a date. The least she could do was give them time to themselves.

Finally they arrived at the movies. "What would you like to see Ayame-san?" Lee looked up at the choices.

"You pick, you're the man aren't you?" Ayame crossed her arms while looking at Lee.

"Yes!" Lee walked up to the ticket booth. "I want two tickets to the scariest movie that is playing!" Lee place his money on the counter.

Ayame got wide eyed. "Scariest movie? I don't want to go see a scary movie."

"Too late Ayame-san. I am the man and I chose the movie already." Lee gave her the thumbs up. "I think I am getting pretty good at this role, do you not agree?" He held out her ticket.

Ayame rubbed her forehead. "You have room for improvement." She mumbled while taking the ticket.

As they disappeared into the theater, Naruto and Hinata landed at the booth. "Two for whatever the couple before us went into." Hinata blushed heavily when Naruto spoke. He was buying her ticket. This was almost like a date between them as well.

"Ok, two for Shinsei Toire no Hanako-san." The man behind the counter gave them their tickets and they ran off into the theater.

* * *

The bathroom was dark when the girl opened the door. Nervously moving her hand around on the wall, she found the switch. A light came on but that bathroom was poorly lit yet. The girl swallowed hard.

She walked slowly towards the third stall from the door. They were all locked and closed. She stopped in front of it and stared up at it. She held her hand in front of the door for a few seconds, poised to knock. After a few deep breaths she summoned her courage.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Hanako-san, are you done yet?" The girl called out. She was greeted with silence. She let out a sigh of relief when a voice answered from the stall.

"Not yet."

The girl's eyes grew wide. She almost screamed but she didn't. She couldn't do that now. The girl waited a minute before knocking again.

"H-Hanako-san are you done y-yet?" The girl was having a hard time fighting back her tears.

"Not yet." The eerie voice responded again.

The girl waited another minute before knocking again

"Hanako-san, are you done yet?" A chocked sob escaped her mouth as she spoke.

"I'm done." The door clicked unlocked and opened slightly.

"No, do not do it. She is going to get you, run away now! It is not breaking the rules!" Lee sat on the edge of his seat, watching the movie between his fingers. An unaffected Ayame sat next to him.

Tears fell freely from the girls face as she pushed the door the rest of the way open. The camera angle shifted to the inside of the stall, looking out at the girl. The look on her face was of complete horror.

"No, I cannot watch this, tell me how it ends!" Lee curled himself into a ball, covering his eyes with both his hands completely.

The girl screamed.

"No! Do not show it to me!" Lee kept glancing up every second now.

"Will you shut up!" Ayame put her fingers to his mouth to shush him. "This movie isn't even scary! The effects are terrible and we have yet to even see this so called "Hanako-san". They're acting like her appearance is some big secret. Not to mention how terribly predictable this movie is!"

"Man, I don't know what is scarier to watch. Bushy Brow ruin his date or this movie." Naruto whispered. Hinata and he were watching the movie from the ceiling. Hinata could only nod in agreement.

A painful hour and a half later and a crying Lee and a bored looking Ayame came out of the theater.

"Guy-sensei, I have failed this challenge. I will do one thousand push ups with no hands, after I complete this date!" Lee screamed into the air.

"Who are you talking to? How is that even possible?" Lee was about to answer when Ayame held up her hand while rubbing her temples. "You know what, don't answer. Let's get the last part of this date going. Not even you can possibly screw up a walk through the park."

"Is that a youthful challenge?" Lee's eyes lit up on fire. "Let us make our way to the park with full haste." Lee grabbed Ayame's hand and started running towards the park.

"What? Wait, it wasn't a challenge. Lee-san, I can't run this fast!" Ayame's feet hardly touched the ground the whole way to the park.

A winded Ayame now stood at the entrance to the park, trying to catch her breath. "Don't you…ever…do that again." It took her several breaths to complete that statement.

"I apologize Ayame-san. Sometimes my fires of youth burn too brightly and I forget myself." Lee bowed low as he apologized.

"Yeah, yeah. So are you going to escort me through the park or not?" Ayame had finally caught her breath.

"Of course!" Lee stuck his elbow out towards her.

"What are you doing?" Ayame eyed his elbow peculiarly, like it was about to screw right off.

"When escorting a lady, isn't it common to lock arms?" Lee asked. He had been sure it was customary.

"You have some good sense after all, Lee-san." Ayame praised. She slid her arm gracefully through Lee's and they began their walk.

Naruto peeked his head out of a nearby bush. "Nice one Bushy Brow, he might be okay yet, after those first two disasters." Naruto sighed in relief.

"Perhaps we should stop following them for the night, Naruto-kun." Hinata also stepped out from the bush. "The sun has almost completely set now and it is getting dark."

"It'd be a shame to miss the end of this. Just a little bit longer, please Hinata?" Naruto looked at her with big blue eyes.

Hinata couldn't say no.

Conversation between Lee and Ayame had stopped. Lee was starting to panic. He knew he wasn't a very multitalented person but he didn't realize until now that training all day left him with very little to discuss.

"My, it sure is getting chilly out." Lee mentally kicked himself in the head. The weather was never a good topic.

"Yeah, too bad you don't have a jacket to wrap around me." Lee felt another mental kick coming. This was not going the way he had expected at all. He was surprised Ayame was still even here. He had expected her to not even leave the noodle stand with him. The fact that he got this far was nothing short of miraculous. He could only silently thank Naruto for his good fortune.

Lee looked ahead and internally cursed his own bad fortune.

Three men were walking up to them and Lee didn't like the way they were eyeing Ayame. The looking could have been the end of it but one of them stepped in front of their path. "Whoa, there." He said while holding his hands in front of himself. "Mind telling me what such a pretty face such as yourself is doing with garbage like this." The man's friends chuckled as they fell back behind him.

"None of your business, now get out of our way." Ayame started to push passed them.

"Not so fast there, Toots." The man stretched out his hand to grab Ayame but Lee's hand knocked it away so fast it took everyone else a second to realized what had happened.

"Please, let us pass, we do not wish for any trouble." Lee successfully got himself and Ayame through now.

"I know you, now." The first man said. "Hey, he look familiar to you boys?"

"Now that you mention it, yeah. He's that demon brat's teammate." All three men laughed. Lee bristled at their words. He unlinked his arm from Ayame's and turned around.

"His name is Uzumaki Naruto and you better respect him. He is going to become the Hokage one day!" Lee watched as all three men bust into laughter.

"Heh, you here that, he says the demon is going to become Hokage. The day he becomes Hokage, I'll get eaten by a giant toad!" The men laughed harder.

Lee gave an indignant huff and turned around. "Let us go, Ayame-san." Lee put his hand on her back and began to lead her away. Ayame gave the men a disgusted look before nodding her agreement.

"Don't walk away from me." The man stepped forward and spit. It flew right into the back of Lee's head. Ayame gasped and quickly pulled out a handkerchief and started to wipe it off.

Lee's arms were shaking. It was against ninja code to attack a civilian but Lee was about to make an exception to that rule. No one insulted his friend and ruined his already failing date on him. Suddenly the whole fight went through his head.

First, distract target, the handkerchief will do. Then block his blind jab, counter with cross to left cheek. Discombobulate. Dazed, he will attempt wild haymaker. Employ elbow block, and body shot. Block feral left, weaken right jaw, now fracture. Break cracked ribs, traumatize solar plexus, dislocate jaw entirely. Finish with heel kick to diaphragm. In summary: ears ringing, jaw fractured, three ribs cracked, four broken, diaphragm hemorrhaging. Physical recovery: six weeks. Full psychological recovery: six months. Capacity to spit at back of head: neutralized.

Lee grabbed the handkerchief Ayame had, turned around and threw it in the man's face. The man was surprised and threw the punch Lee had predicted. Lee stepped forward and blocked the man's punch and proceeded to punch him in the jaw. He then clapped his hands on the man's ears. Lee blocked the man's next shot and followed with a punch to the man's stomach. Blocking another shot, Lee punched the man again in the jaw. Then he punched the man twice more in the stomach and another shot to the jaw. Lee then jumped and kicked his opponent clear in the stomach, sending him sprawling.

The whole scene happened in less then six seconds, leaving all spectators in a mix between confusion and wonderment.

Lee walked up to his date and bowed. "I apologize for that intrusion, Ayame-san. Shall I escort you home now?"

"Y-yeah." Ayame was seldom speechless. But what Lee had just done left little room for her to be much else. She let Lee lead her back to her house without another word.

The two man stood there looking confused. "I think you should take your friend home." They both jumped and turned around to see said "demon brat". "It wouldn't be wise to tell anyone what really happened, got it?" The men nodded quickly, picked up their fallen friend and dragged him to the hospital.

Naruto was looking in the direction they were going but Hinata knew he wasn't actually seeing them. He had a far away look in his eye. Like everyone else, it took them a minute to realize what had really happened too. Naruto had been trying to get at the man when he had spit on Lee, and Hinata had been trying to hold him back. When they looked up the man was already down for the count.

"I had no idea anyone else actually believed I could become Hokage." He said to himself.

"I know you can do it." Naruto now looked at Hinata. She started to press her fingers together but continued talking, "You are always working very hard, you give everything your all. You also really care about people. Those are good traits a Hokage needs."

Naruto wiped away tears that were starting to form. How uncool. "Thank you, Hinata. Really, thank you. You're way cooler to hang out with than Sakura-chan." Hinata blushed at his praise. "I'll walk you home, okay? We're done following them." Hinata nodded happily.

* * *

Lee and Ayame arrived at the ramen stand. Ayame finally recovered from her shock. "Lee-san, you know, that was really cool, what you did. You aren't going to get in trouble for it are you?"

Lee shook his head and leaned in to whisper. "The best part of dressing this way is no one is willing to admit they lost to me." Ayame couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"It's nice to see Naruto has someone that cares about him. Thank you for everything tonight Lee-kun." Ayame gave Lee a quick peck on his bushy brow before she turned and went inside.

Lee sat there in a daze. His first date had been a success? Lee couldn't help it.

"Yahoo!" Lee jumped high into the air. When he landed he sprinted off towards the training grounds. His flames were burning brighter than ever and it was going to take some serious exercise to fan them down.


	7. The Land of Waves

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_The Land of Waves_

* * *

The Hokage sat waiting on his chair. Seven o'clock was the time when he officially started handing out missions, unless of course, the mission was urgent enough to be dealt with immediately upon request. Not many Shinobi teams showed up at seven in the morning though to receive missions. It was mostly older Jonins who suffered from the trauma of past experiences and found it hard to sleep. Only one genin team would possibly be here so early in the morning. Sarutobi smiled as that team barged into his office. He pushed the paper under his hand forward. He had just the mission for this exuberant team.

"Good morning Hokage-sama! This is Team Guy reporting for duty! My team and I wait with youthful anticipation for our first C-rank mission together!" Guy strolled proudly into the office with his students right behind him.

Naruto did his absolute best to restrain himself. Two weeks ago and he would have been all over the place wanting to know about the mission. Hinata meanwhile smiled nervously at the boy's antics. While she was glad to finally be going on a real mission, she couldn't help but feel anxious at the same time. Lee appeared completely calm. C-rank missions to him were more of a chore than anything. Instead of being out in the field, he would rather be inside the village training.

"Yes, Guy, I had been expecting you and your team. It is with great pride that I give your team this mission. Instead of explaining it to you though, I'll have the client brought in." Sarutobi cleared his throat and called in a louder voice. "Send him in!"

A couple seconds passed and nothing happened. The whole room stared curiously at the door, waiting for something. Without warning, it flew open and an old man with a bottle of booze stumbled into the room.

"Damn it! Who leaves for a mission at this early an hour in the day?" The man cursed before taking a swig of his jug. "I have to drink simply to keep myself awake, now who is the team assigned to help me? I don't see any super ninja in here!" The man looked around the room, scanning completely over Guy and his team.

"What the hell, we have to protect this drunk old man?" The Hokage chuckled. The old Naruto still managed to show his way through after all.

"Who are you calling drunk? I'll have you know, I am the man responsible for building the greatest bridge ever! The Land of the Waves is about to become well known thanks to myself! The name's Tazuna, remember it!" Tazuna took another swig before continuing. "And what do you mean protect? A shrimp like you couldn't protect a turd!"

"Why you, I'll kick your ass!" Lee was holding Naruto in a full nelson before he had even started speaking. Naruto could do nothing but swing his arms randomly.

"Naruto, enough!" Guy finally spoke. Naruto immediately stopped swinging his arms but was clearly still fuming. "We are all Shinobi sir, and I assure you, we will protect you until your bridge is completed. If you have any qualms about my charges being a little young, fear not. I am a Jonin. Nothing will touch you with me around."

"A Jonin, eh? Not bad, I never would have guessed, looking at you though. You and your little clone over there look more suited to the circus." Tazuna laughed aloud to himself. No one else joined in.

"Students, meet at the South Entrance in fifteen minutes! I will escort Tazuna-san there myself as we discuss the mission specifics." Guy stepped forward and put his arm over Tazuna's shoulder.

"Yes, Guy-sensei!" His students responded. They filed out the door, but not before Naruto managed to give Tazuna one more dirty look.

"Well, shall we go?" Guy smiled brightly as he and his client stumbled towards the door.

"Yeah, yeah! I hope you guys know what you're doing." Tazuna was clearly uncomfortable from Guy's close proximity.

The Hokage was again alone in his office. His big smile had gone unnoticed by all the room's previous occupants. He just knew they'd get along fine.

* * *

"There are my favorite customers!" Teuchi said happily as Team Guy hurried into the noodle stand. "So how did it go, did you guys get your first C-rank mission?"

"We sure did." Naruto said bitterly, confusing the older man.

"Isn't that a good thing?" He looked to Naruto's teammates for an answer.

"Naruto-kun didn't get off to a good start with our client." Hinata answered quietly.

"Does Naruto get off to a good start with anyone?" Ayame asked as she came out from the back room.

"Ayame-san!" Lee shouted in joy at seeing the older women. A quickly glare from her shut him up quickly.

"I told you, Lee, you can drop the -san. Just my name is fine." She decided not to scold him for his loud voice. It would take a long time to break him of that habit.

"Oh, yes, of course!" Lee said happily, a deep blush on his face.

"So when do you guys leave?" Teuchi cut the two of them off before they could say anything more.

"Fifteen minutes." Naruto took a seat at the stand. "I need at least one bowl before we leave, we might be gone for a few weeks."

"A few weeks?" Ayame asked in surprise.

"Yeah, we're helping some old man finish a bridge." Naruto grumbled. "Some C-rank mission."

"So you guys won't be fighting anyone?" The older girl sounded slightly relieved.

"Well, we are bodyguards, but the chances of us fighting anything stronger than bandits is slim to none." Lee answered easily, earning a concerned gaze from Ayame.

"They are Shinobi, after all." Teuchi threw down a bowl of ramen which Naruto began to inhale immediately. "I'm sure you'll all come back safe."

"Of course!" Lee nodded exaggeratedly.

"Well, you guys be careful." Ayame looked at all three of them now.

"Hey, no worries!" Naruto said as he finished drinking down the broth. "We've been training like mad! I bet Hinata could defeat everyone no problem! But you better save some for me, okay?" Naruto turned to his female teammate.

Hinata's face turned slightly pink but she smiled him. "I'm sure there will be more than enough for you."

Naruto nodded. "There better be, just thinking about it makes dealing with that old fart seem worth it."

"Alright, well you guys better go, you don't want to keep your client waiting." Teuchi chided the group lightly.

"Right, come on guys!" Naruto set off with new found fire. Hinata giggled slightly and followed after him.

"Hey, Lee." Before the spandex-clad boy could go, Ayame called out to him. He turned back to her questioningly. "When you get back, we should go on another date. No horror movies though."

Lee's face lit up in a huge smile. "Yes! I shall be sure that we finish this mission in a most youthful fashion so that I may return to you in due time!"

"Yeah, yeah." She was used to dealing with his weird speech by now. "You better hurry or they'll leave you behind."

"Right!" Lee saluted the two before turning a running after his team.

Ayame watched them go down the road before she noticed her father was staring at her, a strange smile on his face. "What are you looking at?"

"Oh, nothing." Teuchi said as he went back to preparing noodles.

* * *

"Damn it, what is taking them so long!" Naruto stomped his foot impatiently. He and his teammates stood just before the gates that led out of Konoha. Its massive doors hung wide open, waiting for someone to cross them. The temptation for Naruto was almost too great. He really wanted to get out there and get the mission underway. Crappy client or not, it was finally a C-rank mission.

"They'll be here soon, Naruto." Lee responded. He was leaning against the wall next to the gate. "It has only been twenty minutes. Guy-sensei is with a civilian so naturally it'll take a little longer."

"I'm sure they'll be here any second now." Hinata reassured her blonde teammate. She stood right next to him, twiddling her thumbs nervously.

"Yeah, yeah. I know, I'm just so excited to get out of this village. I've never left it before. It must be great out there!" Naruto turned around a gestured to the world lying just outside the gates.

"It's not so much different from here. Not that I've been out far myself." Lee looked up in thought.

"Hmm, what about you Hinata? Have you been outta the village?" Naruto turned to look at her.

"A couple times. But I was much younger and did not get to see much. It was always for family business." Naruto blanched at the mention of Hinata's family. He didn't know any of them but he knew he didn't like them. A few brief conversations with Hinata made sure of that.

"Students, we have arrived!" All three of them immediately stood at attention as Guy and Tazuna, who's bottle of booze was noticeably absent strolled into the vicinity.

"Jeesh, you think a Shinobi would have the common sense to keep quiet at this time in the morning." Tazuna looked around at the other few random citizens who were up and about. Not a single one of them paid any mind to Guy and his antics. "What a crazy village."

"What was that, old man?" Naruto stepped towards the bridge builder.

Tazuna was about to retort but Guy beat him to it. "No threatening the client Naruto. He is a good man trying to connect his country to the rest of the world. He reminds me a little of you, actually."

"Don't compare me to him!" Both shouted and pointed at each other at the same time.

Hinata chuckled while Lee broke out into a broad grin. "Damn it, let's just go." Naruto started for the exit of the village.

"Yeah, the sooner this is over the better." Tazuna also began walking. The rest of the team followed suit.

Immediately upon stepping out of the village Naruto charged forward ten yards before turning around. "Finally! I'm out of that village!" Naruto jumped around excitedly.

"I really am doomed. Why would I have to be stuck with little kids?" Tazuna knew he should have put in for B-rank.

"You better watch it. This little kid is going to become Hokage someday!" Naruto pointed to himself.

"Hokage?" Tazuna laughed. "Kid, I don't know if you've heard, but the Hokage is the strongest Shinobi in your village. A brat like you has no chance in hell."

"I'll definitely become Hokage, just you watch. And when I do, everyone will have to stop disrespecting me and acknowledge my existence as a person. As a great Shinobi!." Naruto folded his arms proudly.

"I wouldn't acknowledge you even if you did become Hokage. It'll take more than that to sway my mind!" Tazuna walked right passed Naruto. The blond boy ground his teeth hard. He wanted to scream at the old geezer.

Then he felt a hand on his shoulder. Naruto looked up to see Lee standing there with him. "Hey, don't worry about him Naruto. He doesn't really know you. If anything, just remember that your teammates accept you." Lee gave him the nice guy pose. Naruto took a few deep breathes before visibly relaxing.

"You're right. Thanks, Bushy Brow." Naruto returned the pose. "Now let's get going!" Naruto started strolling after Tazuna. Nothing was going to ruin this mission for him.

Lee smiled and walked in pace with Naruto.

The team strolled leisurely for a few hours, making their way down the path that would eventually take them to the Wave Country. Naruto got bored quickly as he realized the only thing that seemed to exist outside of the village were trees. Nothing too special. Not a whole lot was happening either and the three genin settled for making light conversation. Guy was not as easygoing as his students though. Something was off about this to him. Guy just couldn't put his finger on it. So he decided to be wary and keep his eye on the bridge builder. Of course, he kept his youthful exposure shown at all times. He had a reputation to keep. He just made sure to observe while he did this.

Soon, Guy saw it. A puddle. His students walked by it carelessly. After all, what harm was a puddle? The problem was it hadn't rained in days. It shouldn't have been there. Guy made a quick decision. There was something he had to confirm, he just hoped he was wrong. He too, walked passed the puddle without giving it a second glance.

Guy cleared his throat and once he was sure he had everyone's attention he spoke. "I'm going to go on ahead for a few minutes and inspect the road ahead."

Naruto gave their sensei a perplexed look. "Why? Is something the matter?"

Tazuna quickly made his voice heard. "Yeah, don't just leave me with these kids. What if something happens?"

"Fear not, I won't be long. There is just something I need to confirm." Before anyone could say anything else, Guy vanished.

Everyone stared blankly at the spot he had just been in for a moment. "Let's just continue walking. I am sure Guy-sensei will inform us upon his return. It is nothing to worry about." Lee made a small hand-motion for everyone to continue.

"I agree..." Hinata said, worry evident in her voice.

"Yeah, whatever." Naruto smiled happily to himself before he started walking forward. Hinata quickly fell into step with him.

"H-hey, don't leave me!" Tazuna quickly ran up to the two of them.

Lee smiled before he too started to walk. He didn't get any further than two steps when the sound of footsteps and chains reached his ears. Without any warning he was suddenly quickly surrounded by spiked chains. "What the..." Lee turned his eyes slightly left and then right. To either side of him were identical looking men with gas-masks and giant claws. They appeared to be linked together by the chains.

"Let's finish this while the Jonin is gone!" The one shouted and they simultaneously pulled back their arms, causing the chains around Lee to constrict.

"Bushy Brow!"

"Lee-senpai!" Naruto and Hinata turned around just in time to see the two shinobi make this action. To their utter horror it looked like Lee was about to be sliced into pieces. Fortunately and to their relief, Lee seemed to disappear just a second before the chains got to him.

"What the hell?" One of the shinobi asked in surprise before a foot buried itself into the side of his face, shattering his mask.

"Naruto!" Lee shouted as he jumped backwards to avoid the other shinobi's claw. "I need you to protect Tazuna-san! Hinata! Back me up!"

"Right!" Naruto obeyed Lee without question. Next to Guy-sensei, he had the most experience in the field after all. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Three clones popped into existence and they all formed a circle around Tazuna.

Meanwhile, Hinata took a nervous step forward. Her breathing quickly became irregular as she stared at the brawl that was quickly erupting in front of her.

"Hinata!" Lee shouted as he rolled under the chain.

"I-I can't." Hinata whispered. "These guys...they're real...someone like me...I'll only get in the way." Hinata slipped down to her knees.

"..." Lee wasn't able to respond as he back-flipped over both claws. He brought both of his feet down onto the shinobi's heads, knocking them forward.

"Go for the bridge builder!" The one with the broken mask shouted. "I'll hold this guy off!"

"Right!" The other one shouted as he charged forward.

"As if I'd let you!" Lee rolled in between the two again. "Konoha Senpu!" Lee delivered a powerful spinning kick to the one who stayed to face him. The man was thrown backwards. The chain that connected the two snapped tight and the other brother was also pulled backwards. His body was still parallel to the ground when he passed by Lee. The genin didn't waste any time and drilled his elbow into the man's solar plexus, forcefully slamming his body into the ground.

"Disconnect the chain!" The other shouted. With a loud hissing noise the chain popped free and the Shinobi who was farther back charged forward.

"I won't let you past me!" Lee assumed his goken stance.

"Don't get cocky because of a lucky shot!" The shinobi on the ground next to Lee swung his body around, bringing his legs forward in a sweep. Lee was caught completely off guard and fell backwards. Meanwhile the other shinobi jumped clear over him.

"Hinata! You have to stop him!" Lee shouted again as he caught himself just before he hit the ground.

"Worry about yourself!" The man swung his claw forward. Lee pushed off the ground and launched straight into the air, well above the strike.

Hinata's body was visibly shaking as the shinobi ran towards her. She cursed and screamed mentally at herself. She had spent two whole weeks training for this. For a chance to prove herself in a mission. Yet here she was, scared and on her knees at the first sight of real danger.

The man ran right past her, not even bothering to give her a second glance. "You're mine!" He shouted in glee as he swung his claw toward the bridge builder.

"Like hell!" Naruto spread his arms out and took the full force of the blow in the chest. The man was completely taken aback as his arm actually made contact with flesh and he was even more surprised when the blonde popped into smoke.

"A shadow clone...but he's just a genin!" The man took a slight step back in his surprise.

"You better not underestimate me!" Two more Narutos ran forward while one stood next to Tazuna. One clone ran directly in front of the other and as the shinobi swung at the front one the second jumped onto the clone's back and leaped forward with his fist outstretched. Naruto's punch connected with the man's jaw, sending him to the ground with a dull thud.

"Damn you..." The man spit out blood as he stumbled to his feet.

"Not done?" The clone in front asked as he turned around. "Then try this on for size!" He outstretched his hand. The other clone grabbed onto his arm. Naruto grit his teeth and pulled the other with all his might, spinning in a circle as he did. The other clone was instantly pulled off the ground, his feet now swinging high in the air. "Naruto Clone Hammer!" The two shouted as the feet of the clone being swung smashed into the side of the shinobi's face, knocking him down again. This time he didn't get back up.

"Impossible!" The other shinobi turned his attention away from Lee as he watched his teammate get knocked out by Naruto.

"Big mistake!" The man felt all the air leave his body as Lee delivered a powerful blow to his stomach. He slipped down to his knees and then fell face-first to the ground, also unconscious.

Lee let a long breath out. That had been too close. A slow and loud clapping noise reached his ears. He spun around quickly to see Guy-sensei standing there, a huge grin plastered across his face.

"Well done students! That was most excellent!" Guy walked up to where Naruto and Tazuna were. "That was a nice move there, Naruto! It was filled with so much youth!"

"It was nothing. It's thanks to you that I came up with it." Naruto smiled happily at his sensei.

"Lee!" Guy turned his attention to his oldest student. "Excellent job in taking command! I knew I could leave it to you!" Guy gave his student a thumbs-up. A gesture Lee eagerly returned.

Hinata felt tears coming to her eyes. While her team had been fighting with all their might, she had sat here and done nothing. She was useless. All the confidence she had been trying to build up led to nothing in the end.

"Hinata!" She looked up at Guy. He turned the thumbs-up towards her now. "Don't worry about it, you'll get it next time!" She couldn't believe it. He forgave her? That easily? But she had failed. How could he? Lee walked in front of her and extended his arm.

"You should have seen me on my first encounter with common highwaymen. Tenten and Neji had to save my butt. I was so miserable I thought I would never get better. We are not supposed to fight other shinobi yet anyways." Hinata stared at his hand for another few seconds. She then looked over to Naruto.

He saw her look and smiled brightly. "Thanks for giving me the shot at that guy, Hinata! I really wanted the chance." He put his arms behind his head and gave her an approving nod.

Hinata couldn't help but smile. She loved her team. She wiped away her tears and accepted Lee's hand up. As she got up her eyes took on the most determined look she ever had. "I'm sorry, Lee-senpai. Next time will be different." Lee nodded enthusiastically.

"You guys did excellent. There were a couple times I almost interfered but I'm glad I didn't." Guy walked over to a tree, set the ninja down and began tying them up. "Fortunately, I was able to get all the information I needed from watching."

"Information? You let things escalate to that just for information? I thought for sure I was going to die." Tazuna pointed an accusing finger at Guy. He then added in a quieter voice. "Although you proved to be pretty skilled kid. I shouldn't have doubted you. Super sorry." The end was little more than a whisper but Naruto heard it all.

"Hey it's no problem. I was being a brat. So long as we are on the same page now, it's all good." Naruto smiled big at Tazuna.

"That's the problem, I don't think we are on the same page." Guy walked up to Tazuna. The bridge builder couldn't do anything but look away from the man's piercing gaze.

"Wait, what do you mean, Guy-sensei? What are you talking about?" Naruto looked between the bridge builder and his sensei. He didn't get what was going on here.

"There shouldn't have been any Shinobi." Lee began to explain. "C-rank missions are of basic protection. Highwaymen, bandits, maybe rabid animals. There is never an enemy Shinobi. This has been my first ever encounter with one myself. The fact that there were Shinobi automatically makes this a B-rank. Possibly even an A."

"Exactly, and the Shinobi were after you, Tazuna-san. Now explain to me why this is. If you don't, I will end this mission right now. We will turn around and go home."

"Sensei, you're bein-" Guy held up his hand to silence Naruto's protest.

"I need to know what I'm up against. I can't risk your precious lives without knowing the full extent of the danger." Guy continued to stare intently at Tazuna.

Tazuna let out a big sigh. "I have no choice but to tell you." He let a dramatic pause take over. "But please, get me to my ferryman. I will explain all about it on the boat ride over."

Guy looked to consider for a minute.

"Sensei, please let us continue. It would only make my failure bigger if we don't move forward." Guy turned and looked at Hinata. It was true that she had become more confident lately but saying she wanted to continue was not something he expected from her anytime in the near future. Guy couldn't refuse now. They were less than an hour from the Wave anyways. Might as well get that far.

"Okay, we will get you there. But I warn you, if you are not completely honest with us, I'm cutting you off."

"Thank you. I'll hold nothing back." Tazuna bowed to them gratefully.

"Good. Let's set out team." They left the pair of brothers unconscious under the tree.

Not even Guy noticed the masked shinobi who had watched the whole fight.

* * *

"You say the demon brothers were defeated by a couple of genin?" A shirtless Shinobi slammed down a massive blade in a show of dissatisfaction.

"That is correct Zabuza-san." The masked shinobi who had watched the fight said. He was bowed down in front of the tall man before him.

The man called Zabuza stared coldly at the boy before him. "Tell me, Haku. What do you think of the skill of the team?"

Haku looked up in surprise at the question. "Two of the genin are clearly very new. I would say they haven't been Shinobi for even a month. However, the one has the ability to use the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu effortlessly. The other is without a doubt a member of Konoha's Hyuuga clan. Judging by her forehead, I'd say she is from the main branch."

"A Hyuuga?" Zabuza actually sounded interested now. He didn't say anything further than that though.

"Yes. As for the other two shinobi...they were...peculiar." Haku spoke carefully now.

Zabuza said nothing but his narrow eyebrow raised slightly at Haku's word choice.

"They were both dressed entirely in green spandex, had bowl cuts, and incredibly bushy eyebrows." Haku somehow felt embarrassed just describing the two.

Zabuza's face seemed to show some realization so Haku quit talking. "Might Guy..." The tall shinobi drawled. Haku didn't reply. "Supposedly the only Jonin Konoha capable of matching the famous Copy-Ninja in a fight. The Strange Green Beast."

"That man?" Haku couldn't help but let his doubt show through. "But if he is capable of matching the Copy-Ninja, doesn't that effectively tie him for second strongest in the village, only out-classed by the Hokage?"

"If you don't count the Sannin, who have cut their ties from that village, then yes." Haku was surprised to see the gears in Zabuza's brain actively spinning.

"If what you say is true, I imagine his students didn't use much other than taijutsu, am I right?" Zabuza mounted his massive blade onto his back.

"That's correct." Haku said. "The blonde did use Shadow Clones but they were extremely well coordinated in hand-to-hand combat."

Zabuza seemed to think about everything Haku had just said. "I'm going to need your help for this one, Haku."

"Zabuza-san?" The masked boy asked curiously.

"We're going, come on." Zabuza began walking off, a confused Haku trailing right behind him.

* * *

Guy's team arrived on the bank of a giant lake. Due to the thick mist, they weren't capable at all of seeing the other end of it.

"Over here." They heard a man give a hoarse whisper from their left. They turned and saw a man with a small row boat waving them over.

Tazuna breathed a sigh of relief. "You have no idea how happy I am to still see you here." Tazuna led the Shinobi over to the ferryman and boarded without preamble. Guy's team did the same and they were quickly on their way.

"This is what you got to help you? Children?" The ferryman looked at Team Guy questionably.

"It's all I could afford." Tazuna held his hands in defense. "Besides, don't underestimate them. They've saved my life once already." The ferryman still looked doubtful.

"I still don't know why it was necessary." Guy caught Tazuna's attention. "You say all you could afford? Is your land really that bad off? What happened that could put you in such a state?"

"Gatou." Was Tazuna's easy answer. Guy's eyes widened in recognition. "I see you've heard of him. Yes, the same Gatou that runs the shipping company. He may seem like just a business man but underneath he is little more than a pint-sized gangster, selling drugs, women, whole countries. He is the man after my life."

Naruto, Lee and Hinata stared wide-eyed at his story. "But I don't understand. Why would such a powerful man want you dead?" Lee had been the first to find his voice.

"Because of the bridge." Tazuna gestured to his left and they all turned to see a massive structure take shape in the mist.

"Wow, it's so big. That's incredible. You're making that?" Naruto had new found respect for the man they were guarding.

"But why should he oppose you making this bridge?" Hinata too, couldn't believe the size of it.

"Our country is cut off from the mainland. We do all our trading by boats. Gatou, bought out all our shipping industries and now has a monopoly of the land. He has made us very poor. The only thing standing between his complete control is the completion of the bridge. If I complete it I can break his grasp!" Tazuna slammed his fist into his palm. He worked himself up during his speech. After a few deep breaths he continued talking. "By the time I realized Gatou was sending Shinobi after me we were too poor to hire higher level protection. There is no way we could afford it. I just needed something. It looks like I lucked out with you guys though."

Tazuna sat up on his knees and clasped his hands in front of himself. "Please. You have to protect me. For the sake of my country. For my daughter and grandson, I need to complete this bridge. I know it's not much for now but in a few years we would be able to pay you back in full. We just need to get on our feet first." The three genin all had tears forming on their eyes. His story had clearly touched them. They all turned to their sensei.

Guy sighed. "How could I possibly sleep well at night if I turn you down now? Okay, we'll do it!" Guy gave him the thumbs up and one of his flashy smiles. The effect was slightly ruined by the mist however.

"Thank you, thank you so much. My country owes you our existence for this." Tazuna wiped away tears he had been holding back.

"Don't thank us yet, the next group won't be pushovers like the last two, I may even have trouble soon here." His three students looked at him in disbelief. The same thought ran through all their minds. How could anyone be trouble for someone as fast as their sensei?

Soon the boat went under a tunnel and they came out into a small river. "Wow…look at that, there are trees growing in the water!" Naruto looked around excitedly at everything in this new land. To his disappointment nothing else stood out all that much. At least the river trees had been cool. The boat docked a short while later.

"This is as far as I go, Tazuna." Everyone disembarked from the boat as the ferryman talked.

"I thank you for making this risk for me." Tazuna bowed to the man as he paddled his way back down the river. They watched him go until he disappeared from sight.

"Okay team!" Guy said in a normal tone. "From here on out we are going to be moving slowly. We're in enemy territory. Hinata, I need you to take up the rear behind Tazuna. Naruto and Lee stand on either side. I'll take the lead. Don't drop your guard until we are in the village."

"Yes, Guy-sensei!" All his students replied in hushed voices. They followed their sensei's directions immediately.

"H-hey, no need to be so serious..." Tazuna said nervously. "You guys took care of that last group no problem."

"Which is why now we have to be extra cautious. They'll send out the strongest they got now. Worst case possible, they send a Jonin." Guy continued to speak at a normal volume.

"A-a Jonin? You mean like yourself?" Tazuna gazed around the misty area nervously.

"Don't worry Tazuna-san. No matter how tough the opponent, I won't let him get you." Guy turned a smiled at their client.

"How touching." A raspy voice echoed. Everyone suddenly grew tense.

"Hinata!" Guy said hurriedly.

"Byakugan!" Hinata activated it before her sensei could say anything more. Her eyes grew wide at what she saw. "Everyone! Duck!" Hinata dropped to the ground as she shouted. Naruto and Lee each grabbed an arm on Tazuna and pulled him down with them. Guy didn't bother to drop at all. He turned just as a giant spinning sword appeared out of the mist. Guy stuck his arm out and caught the blade right by the handle.

"Oh...not bad!" The voice rang from multiple directions at once.

"This sword..." Guy stared at the blade he was holding. "You must be the ex-kiri Shinobi. One of the Seven Swordsmen, Momochi Zabuza."

"I'm touched. You know my name." The voice came from directly above him. Guy turned his gaze upwards. A shirtless man was falling straight towards him. A replica of the blade Guy was holding was also in his hand.

Guy swung the sword in his hand up as Zabuza swung his down. The blades connected and Guy's dissolved into water upon contact. "Tch, a water clone." Guy cursed and took a small leap backwards, completely avoiding Zabuza's blade. "Lee, Hinata, Naruto! Surround Tazuna! No matter what happens, protect him with your life!"

"Yes!" The three genin formed a triangle around the still down Tazuna.

"No matter what happens?" Zabuza chuckled as he pulled his blade from the ground. "You might be giving me too much credit there, Might Guy."

"I make a point of never underestimating my opponent." Guy slipped into a goken stance as he eyed his opponent up and down.

"We'll see about that." Zabuza took a step backwards and appeared to be swallowed whole by the thick mist.

"I see...so this isn't a natural mist at all. This is your doing." Guy nodded to himself as he gazed around the thick mist.

"Observant aren't you? I wonder how observant you are when I'm chopping your client to pieces!" The three genin spun around in surprise to see Zabuza standing right in between them his sword angled at Tazuna's neck.

"N-no!" Tazuna yelped in fear and tried to move backwards.

"Not so fast!" Guy appeared right there a second later, his foot drilling into the top of Zabuza's head. The man broke apart into water and Guy's undeterred foot continued on right into the ground, creating a small crater that his genin and Tazuna stumbled into.

"Sorry about that team, but I can't afford to hold back here." Guy spun around as he talked and caught Zabuza's sword again as the ex-kiri shinobi thrust it forward. Guy took a step forward and delivered a powerful punch into Zabuza's face, breaking him into water. "How unyouthful, hiding behind your clones!" Guy shouted into the mist as he took a couple steps forward.

"Wow, so this is a battle between Jonin..." Lee whispered in awe.

Naruto even nodded in appreciation. "It's on a completely different level from that battle we had earlier. This is so cool!"

"Naruto-kun..." Hinata chided lightly but couldn't keep a small smile from gracing her face.

"H-hey." Tazuna sounded worried. "Don't forget about me. I nearly died already."

"You do not have to worry about that! Guy-sensei could not possibly lose this fight." Lee said enthusiastically. "Just watch. He is about to get serious." Everyone did as Lee said and turned their attention to the powerful man in front of them.

"Get serious, huh?" Zabuza's mocking voice echoed throughout the misty field. "Doesn't matter how serious you get, you'll never find me in here. I am an expert of the silent killing technique. When I am in the mist, I am unbeatable."

"Provided there is any." Guy took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He then appeared to start performing some strange form of Tai Chi. The only sound that could be heard in the mist was Guy's deep, but somehow calm breathing.

"Are you taking me for a fool? What are you trying to do?" Zabuza's question was answered a second later as Guy's eyes shot wide open.

"First Gate: Open!" Guy widened his stance and waved his arms widely in front of himself. A second later and a great wind passed through the whole area, dissolving the mist as it blew.

"What in the..." Tazuna was the only one who was capable of saying anything at all.

"I-impossible." Zabuza stood in plain sight now, right at the edge of the riverbank. Before he could even blink, Guy was right in front of him a powerful fist buried into his stomach. Zabuza was rocketed across the water. He hit the surface but was flying too fast to sink in. Instead he bounced once, twice, three times before he was able to get stable enough to skid to his feet. Massive waves rolled across the water from the multiple impacts Zabuza had made on it.

"Y-you bastard!" Zabuza's face wraps were stained red around his mouth. His sword was somehow still in his hand. "I'll make you pay for that!"

"I'd like to see you try!" Guy stepped onto the water himself and was immediately racing towards his opponent. He moved at such a great speed that he almost appeared to be gliding across the water.

Zabuza hurled his sword into the air and began running through a set of hand seals. "Suiton: Suiryuben no Jutsu!" The water directly in front of Zabuza rose up and formed a large orb. As it completed, Zabuza's sword fell back towards him. Stretching out his hand, The ex-kiri shinobi caught it effortlessly. He then swung the sword forward dramatically. As if the orb had been waiting for the signal, it shot off a high number of slim whips of water.

"No chance an attack like that will hit me!" Guy charge undeterred into the thick of the attack. Every time it seemed like a whip would hit him, Guy would just vanish and appear unharmed a couple steps farther ahead. In no time he reached the orb and with a powerful spinning kick he destroyed it completely.

"Tch, damn!" Zabuza stepped forward and swung his sword. Guy ducked under the swing and delivered another powerful kick that Zabuza jumped over. The two Jonin than began exchange viscous blows.

"H-he's so fast!" Tazuna felt hope build up inside him. Something he hadn't felt for a long time.

"Yeah, get him Guy-sensei!" Lee and Naruto cheered together.

"When did Guy-sensei get that fast? That's incredible!" Naruto couldn't believe the sudden increase in power their sensei had just received.

"It's the Hachimon." Lee answered. Naruto gave him a confused look. "Guy-sensei opened the first of eight gates. Each time you open up a gate your power increases significantly, with risk of course. Supposedly, opening all eight would give even a genin the power to match a Kage."

"Guy-sensei has so gotta teach me that! He's kicking ass with it!" Naruto practically drooled at the idea of being capable of matching the old man.

"Something isn't right." Hinata interrupted everyone's good mood with just that one phrase. She was staring out at the water, her Byakugan fully active.

"Come on, Hinata! What are you talking about? Guy-sensei has got this!" Naruto waved off Hinata's worries quickly.

"No...it isn't that, I just could've sworn I saw something at the edge of my vision a moment ago. Another person, with a mask." Everyone then noticed Hinata's Byakugan was still active. Very suddenly, she spun around. It shocked everyone else so bad that they did as well. What they saw surprised them.

"Ah, so much for sneaking up on you guys. Those eyes of yours are troublesome for sure." A masked boy who didn't sound any older then they were stood only about ten paces behind them.

"How did you get here so fast?" Hinata whispered. Just a moment ago he hadn't been within her range at all. Now he was practically right next to them.

"Speed is an important aspect of any Shinobi. I would think you would know that better than anyone, with that man as your sensei and everything." The boy spoke pleasantly to them. No one was able to sense any evil intent. Yet they all kept their guard up regardless.

"Are you a member of Kirigakure's hunter squad?" Lee asked curiously as he stared at the insignia on the boy's mask.

Haku rubbed the mark of the wave gently as he considered how to answer. "No, I am not." He finally said. "Truth is, I am actually with Zabuza-san. We killed the hunter-nin that was after us and I took his mask." Without warning, a group of shuriken were flying straight at him. "How unpleasent." Haku stepped lightly out of the way, right into Lee's waiting attack.

"I got you!" Lee swung his leg in a high kick. To his complete surprise, Haku caught his kick without even flinching.

"I apologize, but you'll be coming with me." Haku began running through one handed seals. When he finished a mirror of ice quickly formed behind him.

"Bushy Brow!"

"Lee-senpai!" Hinata and Naruto both charged forward.

"Too late I'm afraid." Haku stepped into the ice and pulled Lee with him.

"Hey, take care of Tazuna-san! Don't worry about me!" That was the last thing Lee shouted before he was pulled into the mirror. As if it was magic, they both vanished.

Naruto and Hinata's screams reached the ears of the two battling Jonin.

Guy spun around just in time to see Lee being sucked into the mirror. "What the hell?" Guy stared in horror and took two nervous steps towards his team.

"Hold on right there, Might Guy! You have a choice to make here!" Guy spun around, his eyes glaring. If looks could kill, Zabuza would be dead a hundred and eight times over.

"My little pupil there has just dumped your genin into Gatou's stronghold, but he'll be coming back in just a second. Now here's where your choice is. You let me go back to the hideout, and I'll make sure nothing happens to him. In exchange, you can keep my pupil over there as collateral."

Guy took a step towards Zabuza, ready to continue the fight. "Or, you can continue to fight me, but even if you win. Haku will have taken your other two students and there will be no way for you to ever find them. So what will it be? Let me go and have a shot at saving all three students? Or kill me and lose them?"

"How can I trust you to keep your bargain?" Guy seethed between clenched teeth.

"I still need to kill the bridge builder." Zabuza answered easily. "Bring him and Haku on top of that bridge in two weeks. Also, be sure Haku has his weapons. Make sure no one else comes, not even your other two genin. I'll show up with your last one. We'll finish our battle for good at that time."

"You shameless bastard." Guy grit his teeth. "If even a hair on my precious student is hurt, I'll make you wish you were never born." With that, Guy turned and disappeared facing his students.

Zabuza let out a deep laugh as he made his own hasty retreat. The whole thing would've been pointless if Guy somehow managed to follow him after all.

Naruto and Hinata ran straight into the mirror and bounced off of it completely. "No, you bastard! Give Bushy Brow back!" Naruto whipped out a kunai and began stabbing the mirror with all his might. Hs blade broke off completely from the handle on his fifth swing.

"Let me try!" Hinata's past insecurities were completely forgotten as she tried with all her might to save her teammate. She channeled all the chakra possible into her hands until they were both covered in what appeared to be blue lions. "Juho Soshiken!" Hinata struck again and again with her enhanced palms.

"Are you sure this is alright?" They both spun around to see Haku stepping out from another mirror right behind them. "If I had wanted, I could've killed the bridge builder right here. You both left him completely unguarded. Fortunately for you, Zabuza-san has the unfortunate weakness of liking to mentally torture his opponents, so he'll live for today." Tazuna took a couple nervous steps away from the mirror.

"You bastard! Where did you take Bushy Brow?" Naruto shouted.

"Your friend is safe. Fear not, we'll have more time to talk later." Haku began forming more one handed signs. Before he could even get half-way through them however, Guy appeared. "Get away from my students!" Haku didn't stand a chance. Guy's fist buried itself into his stomach and the boy was out cold before he even knew it. His mirrors shattered and fell to pieces as Haku's body went limp where he stood.

"Naruto, Hinata!" Guy turned himself and Haku fell to the ground unceremoniously. "Lee..."

The two genin looked at each and then back at their sensei. They were speechless.

"H-hey...I'm sorry! This wasn't how it was supposed to be!" Tazuna threw himself at Guy's feet. "Please, I'm sorry, forgive me!" Tears freely fell from the man's eyes as he begged for forgiveness.

Guy clenched his teeth as he stared down at the unconscious boy they now had prisoner. He then turned back to the water and inhaled deeply.

"Damn you! Momochi Zabuza!"


	8. Prisoner

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_Prisoner_

* * *

"Nine-thousand-nine-hundred-ninety-seven_."_

_"_Nine-thousand-nine-hundred-ninety-eight."

"Nine-thousand-nine-hundred-ninety-nine."

"Ten-thousand!" Lee plopped down to the ground as he finished his push-ups. He was exhausted. Sweat dripped from every pour in his body and his stomach rumbled hungrily. There was no chance of him getting any food though. At least not this late at night. He had already been held captive for a three days, but to be honest, Lee never really felt like he was a prisoner here. He wandered around as he pleased, he ate what little food they had to offer in this crappy hide-out. In fact, the room he was currently in, his bedroom, was a considerable amount better than what some of the others had to put up with.

Lee could think of only one reason his life could be this leisurely here. Yet those two words brought just a foul taste to his mouth.

Momochi Zabuza.

When Lee first fell free from the ice mirror, he found himself inside this very room. He later learned that it had been the room the kid with the mirrors used to stay in. Lee had cautiously snuck around at first, trying to get a feel for where he was. When he looked outside he was completely surprised. He was near the very top of a huge tower. Forest and swamp stretched as far as his eye could see. Lee had felt his knees go weak as he realized there was no likely chance of escape from here.

It had been at that moment that he had been spotted by a couple of big looking thugs. Lee easily dispatched of the two of them with some taijutsu but not before they had sounded an alarm. The once seemly empty tower was now swarming with despicable looking men. Lee battled endlessly while he tried to flee from the entire gang of them. Just when he thought he was at his limit and was actually going to be captured, Zabuza arrived.

"This trash is _my_ hostage!" The man roared while holding his hand onto the hilt of his massive sword. "No one is to touch him but me! Got that?" Lee couldn't believe it. Was this man actually protecting him? That thought was instantly crossed from Lee's mind as the shirtless man turned and buried his fist in Lee's gut. The green-clad boy fell to ground spitting up blood.

The sound of a cane hitting the floor caused all the men in the room to spread wide to either side of the hallway they all stood in. Lee's sight was kind of blurry from having been hit so hard but he was still able to make out the figure of a very short man walking down the now open path. Every step he took he smacked his cane down on the floor, not that he seemed to have any trouble walking. Finally the man stopped walking. He was still quite a distance away. Lee guessed just outside the range of Zabuza's massive blade. It was at this moment that Lee realized this man was probably Gatou.

"Zabuza..." A nasally voice fit for the short man called the demon's name. "Tell me, why instead of the head of a master bridge-builder, who may I add threatens to destroy my whole control over this country, do you bring me a child?"

"There was a change of plans, Gatou." Zabuza practically spat. Despite being hired by this man, the demon clearly had little respect for him.

"Oh, do tell." Lee's vision was now clear enough to see that this tiny man had several golden teeth and rings on every finger. His cane seemed to be tipped with a huge diamond.

"One of the Shinobi that the bridge-builder hires happens to be Might Guy, one of the strongest Shinobi in Konohagakure. Not even I would be capable of beating him in a fair fight." Lee couldn't agree more with that statement.

Gatou pushed up his small black glasses. "So was that masked brat you had with you taken out then? I don't see him around."

"No, I purposely allowed Might Guy to take him hostage."

"What? Why? That makes no sense!" The short man practically shouted. Lee had just thought the exact same but Gatou wasn't done. "He might very well be dead already! That's a waste of a resource!"

"Might Guy won't kill him." Zabuza spoke as if he was talking to a child now. "As long as he keeps Haku alive, he'll believe that his student here is alive."

"So what if he lives? How does this benefit you in any way?" Gatou slammed his cane down as he spoke.

Zabuza sighed and ran one hand through his short hair. "You don't get anything, do you?" The short man sneered at this comment. "Worry causes heavy stress on the body. Stress causes you to lose focus. In the Shinobi world, the more stress you have built up, the more deadly for you it can become. Not only does Might Guy have this to worry about but he still has to protect the bridge-builder while keeping an eye on Haku. This means he'll have to sleep very lightly and very little. By the time we next meet, he'll be exhausted."

"Hmm..." Gatou appeared to mull this thought over in his head for a few moments. "Whatever, do what you want!" The man finally said before turning away and walking in the other direction.

The crowd of thugs that had been around them dispersed slowly, all of them grumbling.

Zabuza too, started to walk away. "You are wrong you know." The man turned to look at Lee as he spoke. "Guy-sensei cannot possibly lose to you. No matter what, no one can defeat him."

The older man snorted. "Your faith in others isn't befitting of a Shinobi. You better grow up." Zabuza's foot was the last thing Lee had seen before passing out.

The sound of footsteps outside of Lee's door pulled him away from his thoughts of the past. Silently, the boy got up and walked over to his wall, standing right next to his door. The sound of quiet voices reached his ears. Two shadows appeared right in front of his door.

"What if we get caught?" Lee heard one voice whisper.

"Relax, would you? Everyone is out, including this kid. We got nothing to worry about." Another gruff voice answered.

"Yeah, but he's a Shinobi you know? Can we really kill him?" Lee's eyes widened slightly. They were planning to kill him?

The other man chuckled very quietly. "He's a Genin, still wet behind the ears. We got this!"

"But what about Momchi-san? Surely he'll raise hell about it." The other man continued to spout worries.

"Listen, no one likes the guy anyways, besides, how can he prove it was us? Let's just do this!" The door to Lee's room swung open after the man said this. Lee tensed up and very quietly slipped into his goken stance. Without warning, a hand reached out from the darkness and touched his shoulder. Lee had to put every ounce of his Shinobi training into effect to keep from yelping. He slowly turned around to see Zabuza standing there, one hand on his shoulder, the other in front of his face, his finger making the 'quiet' sign.

Lee couldn't help but wonder when and how he had entered the room. It just went to prove that the man really earned his title of Jonin and One of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. The two men stepped into the room and both stopped as they eyed the bed from where they stood. "Huh? That's strange, he's not in bed." These were the last words either one of them uttered as Zabuza stepped forward and swung his sword in a horizontal arc. Both men's heads were sliced completely off before they even had a chance to scream. Blood sprayed everywhere, painting the walls and door and the two Shinobi.

Lee's eyes were wide with shock. This hadn't been the first time he had seen death but these were the most senseless kills he had ever seen. "Zabuza-san!" Lee shouted as he rounded on the tall man who was sliding his sword back into place on his back.

"Thanks aren't necessary kid. I just can't afford these assholes messing up my plans." Zabuza said as he stepped over the headless bodies in an attempt to leave the room.

"You think I want to thank you?" Lee roared. "You just killed these men without even blinking! You did not have to go that far! Simply disabling them would have been enough!" Lee stepped into the pool of blood that was forming at his feet.

"I thought I told you to grow up already." Zabuza's voice remained level as he turned and looked at the Genin. "Do you really think these men would have learned from that?" Lee opened his mouth to respond but snapped it shut immediately. "You know it too, these men would've just gotten angrier. They would have been back with more men. I did everyone here a favor by ending these two idiots' lives before they involved more of them. This may be hard for a goody-little brat like you to understand, but the only way these people will ever learn is through death. The faster you understand that, the longer I guarantee you'll live."

Lee clenched his hands shut and grit his teeth hard. "How did you become this way?" Lee's question caught the taller man off guard. Lee looked up when he didn't hear a response. "What happened to you that you've grown up so twisted and without emotions?" Lee was shouting now. Others thugs had been woken by the noise and were coming to check it out. Upon seeing the blood, the noise level increased even further. "Do you care at all about that kid you abandoned with my team? What are these people to you? Aren't they your allies?"

"Listen you brat!" Zabuza grabbed Lee by the collar of his clothes and hoisted him into the air. "I live for myself and only myself!" If it wasn't for Zabuza's face bandages he probably would have spit in Lee's face. "These little shits you call my allies mean nothing to me. They are only tools of which can be disposed of. The same goes for Haku. He's simply just a little more sharp a sword than these dull, broken pieces of junk. That's why he's with your team. Even Gatou is just a tool, one to supply me with money." Zabuzu dropped Lee onto the ground.

The boy fell into the pool of blood on his butt. He hadn't expected the early release. He stared up at Zabuza with wide eyes. He never knew such a man could exist in this world. The big man turned and walked away. The now big crowd of thugs quickly moved aside as he walked through. No one wanted to mess with him. "I'll find out how got like this. There must be a reason." Lee whispered under his breath.

* * *

Haku slowly rolled out of the tent he was in. He stood up and did a few stretches. If his internal clock was working correctly, then it should be about four thirty in the morning. This was his third day being prisoner, and while Haku was able to walk around somewhat freely, he really felt like the word described his situation quite justly. Haku thought this as he walked out of the small clearing that Team Guy had set up camp in.

"Going somewhere?" Haku would have jumped had he not already been used to this. Might Guy leaned up against the back of a tree, staring at Haku intently.

"I just have to use the bathroom, I have no intention of harming the bridge-builder." Haku walked over to a small bush and pulled the front of his kimono uniform up. It had been like this the whole time. Haku felt completely suffocated. No matter where or how he moved, it seemed this man's eyes were on him. Yet, maybe that was a good thing. It meant Zabuza's plan was working, didn't it? Haku had to wonder. Three days straight and the man didn't even appear remotely fatigued. Instead, his energy remained boundless. It was incredibly eerie.

The sound of yawning right next to him made Haku realized he was losing his focus. Naruto stood right next to him and was also taking a leak. Haku was painfully reminded that it wasn't just Might Guy. This whole team seemed to have unlimited energy. They were always up incredibly early. Naruto and Hinata spent all day training these past couple days while Guy would take Haku to the bridge to keep an eye on him and guard the bridge-builder at the same time.

Haku hated it this way. They didn't ever bind him up or anything. That was how completely hopeless Haku was in this situation that they didn't even feel the need to restrain him. Albeit, they had taken away his senbon. "I'm going to kick your ass when this two weeks is up." Haku glanced briefly at the blonde who was peeing right next to him.

"You don't know anything about me." Haku replied simply. Saying things like that set Naruto off pretty easily. For that matter, anything he said set the blonde off.

"You asshole! You kidnapped Bushy Brow! I'll never forgive you for that!" Naruto zipped his pants up and turned in the other direction, going back to their clearing. He hadn't attempted to hit him as Haku had expected. Perhaps his sensei had given him a big enough warning after last time. After all, they couldn't afford to rough him up too much. Lee's life depended on it.

"Tell me again why I should believe that you can't just use those mirrors to get back to Gatou's base." Haku sighed. Guy had asked him the same question a couple times before already. He was probably trying to say if he would change up his story at all.

"I can only create mirrors in a location that is within my range of vision. After creating them it takes a lot of chakra to sustain them. Holding up just that one at such a distance was incredibly taxing. When I lost consciousness, that mirror shattered, just like the ones you saw." Haku repeated what he had told him before, word for word. Silence rang between the two for a few moments. "Are you perhaps hoping that I could take you to Lee-san that way?" Haku knew that wasn't what Guy wanted, but maybe he could get the man to reveal some form of fatigue.

"Of course not. You heard what I told Naruto. Lee has a much better chance of surviving if we play things by Zabuza's rules. He's really much more interested in killing me and Tazuna-san than him." Guy stared down at the boy before him. "Although, I must say, I feel badly for you. He clearly has no affection for you at all, even as a pupil."

"I am not a pupil. I am Zabuza-san's tool. I am to be used as he sees fit and disposed of when I've gone dull. That is my only purpose in life." Haku spoke the words that he had long since etched into his heart.

"You really are a sad child..." Guy sounded sincere as he spoke. "You remind me a lot of Naruto in fact."

Haku almost gave an uncharacteristic snort but stopped himself. "If he knows what it's like to be alone then he must be truly strong."

"It's not the pain of being alone that makes one strong. It's for protecting the ones you love that you become strong." Guy spoke as if he was Haku's sensei now.

Haku turned around and walked back into the clearing now as well. "Having been alone amplifies that desire."

Guy didn't respond. Instead, he followed the boy leisurely back into the clearing.

Hinata was up now and had a small fire going. Naruto sat next to her, skinning a couple of rabbits the two of them had caught last night. Haku was impressed that neither of them complained. Instead of being inside a warm house, using a kitchen stove, they were out here. Tazuna had offered to let the two of them stay in his home with him and his family but they had both declined. Naruto had said it felt more like an actual mission when they were camping out. Haku suspected it was actually so they could get right to training.

"Do either of you have any questions on what I've written down in your scrolls?" Guy asked as he watched Hinata throw the rabbits into the pot. Guy had written scrolls about how they were supposed to train while he and Haku were at the bridge. Of course, Haku knew he had done this simply so he couldn't learn how they were preparing. The less he knew, the more beneficial it was for them.

They both shook their heads at his question. "We've been doing like you suggested and have talked to each other when either of us has had a question about what's on the scroll." Naruto answered for the both of them.

"Does that mean you've been the only one asking the questions?" Haku couldn't describe it, but there was a certain joy he got from picking on the blonde. He had never gotten this kind of enjoyment before. Maybe spending time with this group was beginning to erode his brain.

Naruto blushed and instead of shouting a comeback decided to glare quietly at the other boy. "Guess that means I'm right." Haku smiled lightly. Something really was wrong with him.

"Your food." A bowl of rabbit meat was tossed to him. Haku barely caught it before he turned his gaze to the owner of the cold voice.

"Thank you, Hinata-san." Haku inclined his head before grabbing a pair of chopsticks to eat. The Hyuuga girl rarely spoke around him and when she did it was always with a very clipped tone. Haku didn't blame her either. He had stolen their teammate. They had no reason to treat him kindly. With all the food having been passed out, silence reigned over the clearing as the group ate their food.

Naruto was of course the first one done. He inhaled everything with such incredible haste that it made Haku kind of sick. No one should be able to consume food like that. Yet, Might Guy was always a close second. Haku would be willing to bet Lee was much the same. Only he and Hinata took their time eating their meal.

"Hey, hey Guy-sensei." Naruto talked to his teacher enthusiastically. It didn't fit the mood of the morning at all.

"Yes, my young student?" Haku winced. Yet Guy's response fit even less. Haku imagined his voice could probably be heard in the nearby village.

"Teach me how to open the Hachimon! Bushy Brow was telling me about it and it sounds so cool!" Haku's ears perked up at this. Maybe the man would shed some light on that mysterious power he had used which easily blew away Zabuza's mist.

Might Guy let out a loud boisterous laugh. "Opening the gates is no easy feat, Naruto! While I would be more than happy to teach you at a later date, focus on the training you have for now! Lee can open a couple of them himself. When we get him back I'll have him assist me in teaching you."

Naruto nodded excitedly. "That sounds like a good idea. I really want to get training now!" Naruto sat up abruptly and began doing a series of stretches. Haku couldn't believe how fast the kid's attitude changed. It almost seemed like he had a switch.

"That's the spirit! Train on Naruto!" Haku cringed at Guy's continued use of his booming voice."If you are done, Haku-san, let us be off! They have work to be done!" Guy turned his attention to the black-haired boy.

"Yeah, alright." Haku got up and turned to Hinata. "The food was delicious again." He said as he bowed. Hinata didn't respond as she continued to nibble on her own food. Guy lightly grabbed ahold of Haku's shoulder and led him away from the clearing.

Naruto and Hinata were left with another awkward silence as he continued stretching.

"Umm...Naruto-kun!" Hinata sounded much more timid now that Haku wasn't around.

"Yeah, what's up, Hinata?" Naruto stopped his stretching and turned to stare at her. She blushed slightly from the attention. It was strange, when they were in a group she could talk to him normally, but alone, even during such a serious mission, she found herself reverting back to how she used to be.

"I...had a question about something here on my scroll." Hinata almost breathed a sigh of relief. She was still able to keep her stutter from returning, that was a good sign.

"No you don't." Naruto caught her lie without even thinking about it. Hinata's face turned very red at how straight-forward an answer he gave. "Listen, I appreciate that you're trying to make me feel better, but I don't really mind all that much Hinata. You're really smart."

Hinata's face remained red for a different reason now. "Sorry." She muttered out.

"Don't apologize." Naruto sat down next to her. "You're always so nice, there's no need to be sorry. Anyways, what was it in your scroll again?"

"Hakkeshō Kaiten." Hinata whispered, awe heavy in her voice. Just thinking about it made her forget her embarrassment. "It is the ultimate defense taught only to the Hyuuga of the main branch. That Guy-sensei would actually know how they do it is incredible."

"Well, that's Guy-sensei for you. If it's Taijutsu, he can do it or at least knows it." Naruto spoke highly for one of the only men he had truly come to respect. "Although, I'd wish he'd teach me something cool like a move. My list kinda sucks." Naruto pulled out the scroll he had.

"Playing the rock, paper, scissors with myself didn't make sense at all until you explained it." Naruto continued to talk. "While it's cool that I know what happens when they pop, I don't see how that can benefit me entirely. Guess it's one of those look underneath the underneath deals. Although, training my clones to survive multiple hits is going to be useful, if I can actually get it." Naruto let his scroll flop down to the ground.

"You can do it, Naruto-kun." Hinata cheered for him quietly. "You can do anything..." She added in an even quieter tone.

"Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Hinata! For Bushy Brow, we'll definitely master this stuff!" Naruto stood up quickly and resumed his stretches.

"Yes, for Lee-senpai!" Hinata got up and also began stretching. I can also do it because you're here with me, Hinata wanted to add this aloud but choose against it.

"You don't blame me do you?" Hinata was surprised by Naruto's sudden question.

"Blame you?" She didn't understand where that thought had even come from.

"Yeah, I mean. I'm the one who wanted to do this C-rank mission and all. Doesn't that make it my fault that things turned out this way? If I had just been okay with training than things wouldn't have happened this way."

"You're wrong!" Hinata startled Naruto with her shout. "Y-you can't blame yourself." They had both stopped stretching again and Naruto stared at Hinata in shock. "C-rank mission aren't supposed to involve such powerful Shinobi. It was supposed to be basic protection. Besides, it would have happened to someone. It just happened to be us, so please, Naruto-kun, don't blame yourself." Hinata suddenly ran at Naruto and embraced him in a hug, tears slowly leaking down her eyes.

"H-hey. I get it." Naruto lightly patted the girl's back. "I'm sorry Hinata. I won't say anything stupid again." Naruto slowly unentangled himself.

"S-sorry." Hinata quickly began wiping her tears away."I didn't mean to get so worked up."

"I keep telling you not to apologize. You don't do anything wrong." Naruto scratched the back of his head as he spoke. "Besides, you're right. If it's anyone's fault it's that Haku guy."

Hinata nodded gently. "It's strange though. I can't bring myself to feel any resentment towards him."

"Really? I thought you were ready to knock his lights out the way you look at him." Naruto was surprised to hear Hinata's confession

"No, I learned to act that way around my family. It's the best way to hide my emotions." Hinata hated bringing up her family, even if it was with Naruto.

"I kinda get what you mean though." Naruto quickly steered the conversation away. Even he knew that speaking about Hinata's family was taboo. "Who would've guessed that he'd have that kind of face."

"Huh?" Hinata looked up at Naruto in confusion.

"I mean, honestly, that dude is cuter than Sakura-chan. I really thought he was a girl at first." Naruto blushed and laughed nervously as he talked. "Pretty weird, huh?"

Hinata's face fell as Naruto spoke. How could it be? She lost even to another boy. It was completely humiliating. "Naruto-kun...you idiot." Hinata turned away from him and resumed her stretches.

"H-hey, Hinata!" Naruto called to her but she didn't respond. "What did I do? Come on! Hinata!"

* * *

Haku continued to hammer away as he drove the wooden plank into the supports of the bridge. He found it terribly ironic. It was his mission to kill the bridge-builder, yet here he was, helping construct the bridge. "Life sure is strange." Haku mumbled aloud to himself.

"Sure is." Tazuna said as he walked up next to him and began laying down more boards. He set to work at hammering himself.

"Is this alright?" Haku asked him. "There are plenty nails lying around. One flick of my wrist and they'll be buried in your neck."

Tazuna started sweating slightly but responded in a calm voice. "You won't do that."

"How can you be so sure?" Haku was perplexed. The man wasn't lying to him

"I get a different feeling from you than I did that Zabuza character." Tazuna paused as he thought about his answer. "You don't like to kill. I'm not sure how I can tell, but I know it. In fact, I don't think you like hurting others at all. You only do it because that Zabuza guy tells you to. In actuality, you're super nice."

"I'm impressed." Haku continued to nail away at his board. "Is that perhaps the insight that comes from old age?"

Tazuna let out a long laugh. "I'm not that old! Even if I am a grandpa! I just know a good kid when I see one."

Silence passed between the two of them after his last comment.

"Tazuna, we need to talk." Haku and the old man looked up to see another equally old man standing there nervously. He held an uneasy eye on Haku.

"Ah, Giichi, how can I help you?" Tazuna smiled at his long time friend and stood up as he greeted him.

"Listen, I've been doing a lot of thinking…and I want to quit working on the bridge." Tazuna's smile slowly disappeared off his face as Giichi spoke.

"Not you too." Tazuna whispered.

"Look, Tazuna, I understand that we're doing a good thing but what's the point if Gatou has you killed? What good will it do?" Giichi tried to implore Tazuna to see his reason. Haku felt his palms sweat as the man talked. He continued to hammer away in an attempt to distract himself. "Let's all quit. Quit building this bridge."

"Impossible!" Tazuna shouted, surprising not only Giichi, but Haku as well. "This is our bridge! We began building it together and I intend to finish it. This bridge is a symbol of our nation's courage. If we stop now then Gatou truly has won." Tazuna stared hard at Giichi for a minute. "You know what? Just don't bother showing up again. I'll finish this bridge even if it's by myself." Tazuna walked passed his once friend, knocking his shoulder as he went.

"Tazuna, don't be this way!" Giichi called after him.

"Shove it!" Tazuna grabbed another plank of wood and brought it back to where Haku was. He immediately set back to work. Giichi sighed and stood there for another few moments, trying to think of something to say. In the end, he gave up and walked away.

"Tazuna-san..." Haku said quietly.

"Hm." Tazuna made a small noise to show Haku he was listening.

"I have no right to say this, but until the two weeks is up, I will help you build this bridge." Haku wasn't sure what compelled him to say that. Maybe it had been the old man's speech, but there was no taking it back now. It was out there.

Tazuna didn't respond and Haku thought he was still mad until he looked over. The man was smiling, even if just a little.

Unbeknown to either, Guy had watched the whole thing. There was an unreadable expression on his face.

* * *

Things had been relatively peaceful in Gatou's hideout for a few days since the incident. No one dared try to take Lee's life after the violent decapitation of two of their own. Lee had been here a full week now. Despite what he had said, he had made no progress in finding out anything about Zabuza. Lee wasn't deterred though. As long as things remained calm, he should be able to get the chance.

Yet, perhaps inevitably, things did not remain calm. Gatou returned today from some sort of business trip and he was seething mad. "Where is he? Where is the bastard that hacked up two of my men?" The short man strolled around the cafeteria of the tower, his cane clacking menacingly against the floor. All the thugs sat at tables and at their meals. It reminded Lee of school, which was kind of a funny thought.

"What's all this racket about?" The man Gatou was looking for spoke up as he strolled leisurely into the room.

"You! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Gatou pointed his cane at the shirtless shinobi.

"Getting food. Even Shinobi eat you know?" Lee hadn't realized it at first, but Zabuza actually had a sense of humor. A twisted one, but a sense of one none the less.

"That's not what I'm talking about!" Spit flew from Gatou's mouth and into the faces of several seated thugs. They didn't dare breathe a word of it though. "Why did two of my men have to die, huh? If you ask me they were doing me a favor! What has that kid done for us? He runs around the place all day working out like a maniac! He doesn't contribute to anything yet he continues to eat our food! That's wasted money right there! How are you going to reimburse me for this, huh Zabuza?" Gatou slammed his cane down so hard Lee thought it would break.

"I'll bring you the bridge-builders head. That'll cover everything." Zabuza replied simply.

"No! I've had enough." Zabuza's eyes narrowed at Gatou's words. "You cost too much for no results! I'm through with you! We'll raid the village ourselves! Right men?" A chorus of cheers hailed from all the thugs in the room. Lee took their excitement as a chance to slip into the back corner and just watch. He slower pulled his weights off from where he was.

"Just try it." Zabuza answered. "The lot of you won't even get close to touching that man. No one here has the power to take down a Jonin."

"We'll see about that!" One man picked up one of his weapons. These men carried them with them at all times, so the cafeteria was loitered with them. "I'll take your head first! Then the bridge-builder's!" The man charged forward. As if he started a chain reaction, dozens of them charged forward with him.

Zabuza laughed happily as the men charged at him. He grabbed his sword and swung it downwards, splitting the first man who had charged clean in half. Everyone else stopped at that moment. Zabuza looked up and they all took a couple steps back. Those weren't the eyes of someone who was sane. "D-demon..." Someone shouted.

"Is that it? I gut down one of you and the rest lose their spines? Come on you cowards! I thought we were having a revolt! Come on!" Zabuza took a couple steps closer as he roared at them. They all took a couple steps back.

"W-we can get him!" Someone shouted in a shaky voice.

"Yeah, there's only one of him! There's a ton of us!" Another man shouted, sounding a little more confident than the last.

A dull roar erupted from about half the crowd. They slowly began to inch back closer.

"S-stop it you idiots!" Gatou sounded as if he was in pain. "At me! Look at me!"

All the thugs turned around and were completely blown away by what they saw. Lee had Gatou's arm twisted behind his back and held a kunai to his throat. "No one move!" Lee shouted, twisting Gatou's arm for added effect.

"N-no!" Gatou shouted. "Stop! You'll break it!"

"If I kill you right now, this whole thing ends!" Lee said this to Gatou but shouted it so everyone else could hear. "You're the only reason the bridge-builder has to be killed. That's the only reason my team is caught in this conflict!"

"Kill him and you won't make it out of here alive." Zabuza said as he slowly walked though the crowd. "Everyone here, including me, needs this man for money." Zabuza stopped walking. He was directly in between the crowd of thugs and Lee now. "Of course, Gatou did just say he's through with me..." The demon-ninja let his threat hang in the air.

Gatou caught on fast. "Haha...come on Zabuza, you know I was just playing with you! In fact, I was thinking of doubling...screw that, tripling your salary! Just please, get me outta this!"

"That's more like it, Gatou." Zabuza practically purred. A wave of pure killing-intent suddenly flooded the room. Those closest to Zabuza slipped to their knees immediately. Some even passed out. Gatou was among them. Lee didn't collapse but his knees became wobbly and his grip loosened on Gatou enough to allow him to fall to the ground. A second later and Zabuza had Lee by the neck, slamming him to the ground. He put his mouth close to the boys ear. "Unfortunately for you, I'm going to have to make an example of you. Force your body limp and it won't hurt as bad." Lee had no other choice than to do what he said.

* * *

The entire group was seated at Tazuna's kitchen table for dinner. No matter how many times it happened, Haku still couldn't get used to it. Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter was currently setting all the food down while Naruto passed all the plates and glasses out to everyone. "It's always nice to have so many guests in the house." Tsunami said as she finished setting down the food and took her seat.

Haku took pleasure in the fact that Naruto looked just as out of place as he felt. Perhaps he wasn't used to this type of setting either.

"Inari!" Tsunami called for her son to come join the table. Haku had only ever seen the boy once and the experience had left a bad taste in his mouth. The kid had completely lost all hope. He did nothing other than cry all day and blame it on others. It seemed to hit a little too close to home for Haku to want to even think about it. Maybe it was because Haku felt like he was looking at his past self when he looked at him, but it actually made him want to strangle the kid.

Again though, Haku was able to take comfort in the fact that Naruto seemed to share his sentiments. Just listening to Guy and Tazuna talk, Haku was able to infer that the two had been in a couple nasty arguments already.

"I don't want any!" The boy shouted from the other room of the house. Haku sighed. This didn't sound good. Sounded like another conflict was about to erupt, and he was going to be around for this one.

"Inari, right this minute!" His mother shouted.

A few seconds later and the sound of heavy footsteps coming down the hall reached their ears. A moment later and Inari entered the room. " I don't want to eat with these losers and that murderer!" Inari roared. Haku's face fell slightly at being called a murderer.

"Watch who you're calling a loser you crybaby!" Naruto shouted at the boy.

"I'm not a crybaby!" Inari screamed back. "And I call you losers because there's no way you can ever beat Gatou! You try so hard but what are you going to accomplish? You'll all just end up dead! You've already lost one teammate!"

"That tears it!" Naruto stood up so fast that the chair he was sitting in was toppled over.

"Naruto-kun! No!" Hinata sat up to but she wasn't fast enough. Naruto delivered a fist right into the side of Inari's head, sending the boy crashing to the ground.

Naruto sat there breathing heavily for a few seconds over the wailing boy. "I'm sorry. I'm going to go cook my own food." Naruto left the house in a hurry. Everyone else sat in complete silence. Inari's crying was the only thing that could be heard at the moment.

"I never wanna see you guys again!" Inari shouted as he too ran from the house.

"Inari!" Tsunami called after her son but made no move to go after him. She couldn't bring herself too, instead she looked back at her food, small tears rolling down her face.

"I'm sorry." Guy said. "But after what he said about my other student, I couldn't bring myself to stop Naruto. I'll personally scold him and we will both swim one thousand laps around the bay with five hundred pound weights attached." Guy gave his usual challenge, but it lacked the fire it normally had. Perhaps the fatigue was finally starting to get to him.

"No, we're the ones that are sorry." Tazuna responded, his head bowed in shame. "You're such good people, yet you are talked to in such a way. Once this bridge is complete though, he'll come around. He'll see what great people you are!" Tazuna did his best to smile at him.

"At least let me go apologize to your son personally. Hitting a child is unforgivable after all." Guy began to stand up.

"Guy-sensei, I'll talk to him. You stay here." Hinata who was still up immediately went for the door.

"Yes, thank you, Hinata." Guy slid back down to his seat.

Haku got up too and began to follow after Hinata.

No one tried to stop him.

Inari sat on the edge of the dock. His tears continued to fall from his face and hit the water beneath him. He was so lost in thought he didn't even hear Hinata come up to him.

"You mind if I sit here?" Inari jumped at her soft voice. He looked up at Hinata and then looked away from her without saying a word. She took that as a yes and sat down. "I know Naruto-kun can seem very harsh sometimes, but he always means well when he speaks."

"Typical, you would side with him." Inari interrupted her. He wiped his nose and continued to look away from her.

"Tazuna-san told us about your father. Naruto-kun grew up without ever knowing his dad, you know?" Inari finally looked over at her in surprise. "My own father looks at me with disgust whenever he sees me." Hinata whispered. She shook her head to get away from the thoughts. This wasn't about her. It was about them. "It's kind of funny. You both say how you don't understand each other, yet when I look at you, I see Naruto-kun when he was younger."

"What do you mean? How can I be anything like that guy? So what if he never knew his dad? That just means he doesn't understand the pain of losing him!" Tears began to slide from his face again.

"Naruto-kun may not have known what it was like to have a dad, but that doesn't mean his life wasn't hard. Our whole village hates him. Hates him for something I don't even understand. They were all so cruel to Naruto-kun. I used to watch him all the time, you know? He would train every day to become strong so he could be accepted. Yet he always failed. When he failed he would cry. Not much different from you." Inari couldn't believe what he was hearing. Naruto used to cry?

"He stopped crying though?" Inari barely managed to ask.

"One day he just quit." Hinata stared out over the water, memories of Naruto flooded into her head. "He quit crying but he kept training all the time. He still didn't have anyone that accepted him, but he didn't cry. I think he realized that it wasn't going to help. He just simply gave up crying. And thanks to him, I learned to quit crying over my failures too. I used to be so miserable. Every time I messed up I would lock myself in my room and cry. Now, thanks to Naruto-kun, I don't cry when I fail. I get back up and try again. No matter how hard it seems, I won't ever give up. I hope you'll try too, Inari-san."

Inari just stared blankly at Hinata. She smiled at him and slowly sat up and then walked away. He looked back out over the water. No more tears came to his eyes. He had a lot more on his mind now.

"Did you hear everything?" Hinata asked as she passed the corner of the house.

"Yeah." Haku, who had been leaning against the wall, followed after Hinata.

"You have a similar pain to us, don't you Haku-san?" Hinata asked as they walked into the forest.

"Yes. I used to cry a lot too. I cried until all my tears were gone though. When Zabuza-san found me I was already dried up. He gave me meaning. I live only for him." Haku wondered who he was saying that for now.

Soon, the sound of a raging battle reached their ears. They came to the clearing where the Naruto and Hinata trained endlessly every day. Four Narutos were currently mixed up in an all out brawl. They wailed on each other with all their strength.

To both Haku and Hinata's amazement, not a single clone popped from the terrible punishment they were receiving. "Naruto-san really is something else." Haku murmured as he watched the scene in front of himself.

Hinata could only nod as she stared at him, a small blush on her face.

"Ah, I see." Haku mumbled after looking back and forth between the two. He doubt Hinata even heard him. Haku took this time to notice something else. The ground Naruto was fighting in was trashed. There were numerous marks that looked like someone had been spinning in. Next to nearly every one of these marks was a pile of barf. Just what kind of training were they going through? Haku couldn't help but wonder.

"Are you sure this is something I should be seeing?" Haku asked as he began to step away.

"It doesn't matter." Hinata answered, she didn't move from her spot.

"Don't forget, Hinata-san. In just a few days we'll be enemies again. We'll be pitted against each other in a life and death battle." Haku turned his back to the two of them and began to walk away.

"You won't kill us." Hinata said too quietly for him to hear. "I know it."

* * *

It was day twelve. It had been five days since the last incident and yet Lee still ached all over. Zabuza didn't hold back one bit as he thrashed the young genin in every sense of the word. Yet none of that mattered. Not to Lee anyways. Despite the terrible beating Zabuza had given him, Lee had felt he earned something from the demon-ninja. Perhaps it was his respect? Lee couldn't be sure.

"Zabuza-san! Look what I got!" Lee walked up to a small fire that Zabuza had going and dumped a small doe down at the man's feet. The two of them were now on route to the bridge. In two days Lee would be able to see his teammates again. Too bad it wouldn't be a very joyous reunion.

"Not bad, kid. For not having any ninjutsu you are surprisingly adaptive." The shirtless Shinobi immediately set to work at skinning the doe.

"It is not that surprising really." Lee said as he plopped down. "I have to be after all. It is the only reason I am able to be a Shinobi in the first place. Well, that and Guy-sensei."

"Might Guy, I can't wait to rip that man's head from his shoulders." Zabuza chuckled low to himself.

"I wish you would not speak in such a way. It is most unyouthful!" Lee chided the older Shinobi.

"Youth, youth, youth. That's all you freaking talk about!" Zabuza whipped the skin of the doe to the side as he finished.

"You should tell me more about your youth Zabuza-san! How did you become such a twisted man?" Lee talked as blunt as possible.

"Do you want to die before we get there? I'm still pretty young, damn it." Zabuza snarled at Lee.

The green-clad boy didn't respond. Instead he stared at Zabuza with wide eyes.

"Fine, you want to know something about my past?" Lee nodded enthusiastically. "To pass the academy in my village, you had to kill a classmate in a one on one fight." All of Lee's enthusiasm died right there. "So you know what I did?" Lee didn't respond. "I wiped out my entire class. Since then, they abolished that custom. It was when they heard of this exploit that I was recruited to be trained with one of the Seven Swordsmen."

Lee narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "I see...so secretly, you're actually a pacifist."

"Did you listen to a word I said?" Zabuza shouted at the genin. "I killed my entire class! How does that make me a pacifist?"

"Yes, but because of you, that custom was removed, right?" Lee waved his finger in the air. "So by killing you class, you saved half of the lives that are currently employed in Kirigakure today."

"And you call me twisted. What kind of logic is that?" Zabuza was completely shocked by the boy's optimism.

"That is the logic of youth!" Lee took a dramatic pose as he shouted to the sky.

"Sit down you freak." Lee immediately did as he was told but a big smile lingered on his face. "What are you smiling at?" It was starting to weird Zabuza out.

"I knew you were not all bad! I mean, you traveled with that kid, Haku. No one who has kid with them can be bad!" Lee continued to smile brightly at Zabuza.

Zabuza threw his hands in the air in defeat. "Think whatever you want. I still intend to take the bridge-builders life tomorrow. Not to mention your Sensei's. Gatou will pay big once this works out."

Lee stared quietly at Zabuza for a few seconds. "How did you end up in Gatou's gang? I mean, why did you leave Kiri?"

"It's a long story kid, and not one I like to tell so I'll give you the short version." Zabuza scratched his head as he thought where to start. "I attempted to take over the village and failed. I've been on the run ever since. I met Gatou by chance and it seemed to fit. If I can get this money, I can afford to go back and try again. This time I'll hire another village. Maybe Kumo or something." Zabuza grabbed a jug of water and started to drink.

"Instead of that, just team up with us and come to Konoha." Zabuza immediately spit his water out.

"D-don't say just ridiculous things! There's no way that's possible!" Zabuza shouted.

"Sure it is, Hokage-sama is really understanding. I'm sure if you explain the situation he'll be more than happy to help." Lee continued to smile at the demon ninja.

"You know what? I've lost my appetite." Zabuza doused out the fire and the darkness of the night took over.

"Hey, wait, I'm still hungry though!" Lee shouted.

"Too bad, go to sleep, brat." Zabuza laid down and rolled away so his back was to the genin.

"You know. You can protest all you want, but I know you're a good guy, deep down there." Despite being energetic just a second ago, Lee now sounded sleepy.

"..." Zabuza said nothing to Lee now. Instead he let silence claim the area for the rest of the night.

* * *

"Here's the plan." Guy spoke with complete authority now as he looked over his two students. "The two of you are to stay here for fifteen minutes. Once that time is up, charge in no matter what. Lee's life is on the line."

"Yes!" Hinata and Naruto shouted together.

"Alright. Tazuna-san, you ready?" Guy turned to the old bridge-builder who nodded at him.

"No matter what happens. I just want you all to know that I think I made the right choice in hiring you guys. Thank you for everything." Tazuna bowed to them

"Don't speak like it's over yet. You'll definitely complete that bridge!" Naruto attempted to cheer the old man up.

"Well, let's go!" Guy began to walk away.

"I guess I'll see you two on the battlefield." Haku muttered as he waved to the two genin. He then hurried after Guy and Tazuna. This wasn't good, he realized. He was going to have to crush these feelings here in a few short minutes.

In no time the small group arrived at the bridge to find it completely shrouded in a thick mist. "Guess he's already here." Guy mumbled. He looked to Tazuna.

"I'm ready. Let's go save your student." Guy nodded and the three of them walked into the mist.


	9. Battle on the Bridge

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_Battle on the Bridge_

* * *

"I see that you've decided to do exactly as I said, Might Guy. I'm kind of surprised." Zabuza's voice resounded throughout the thick mist.

"Where are you? Where's Lee?" Guy shouted as he looked around, unable to spot anyone.

"Guy-sensei! I'm right here!" Lee's voice came from straight in front of him. Guy squinted hard and two figures slowly became visible.

"Lee!" Guy shouted happily. He was alright. At the very least he was alive.

"What a touching reunion." Zabuza said mockingly. "But lets not forget why we're all here."

"What's your angle here Zabuza? I have two people you want, you only have one." Guy eyed the man carefully.

"How about we make this a little interesting?" Zabuza drawled out slowly. "I'll send Lee and you send Haku out halfway. They can fight each other for their freedom."

"I refuse. You're sick." Guy shot him down instantly.

Zabuza roared with laughter at Guy's immediate refusal. "You don't have a choice! Either take it or I'll cut his head off right here!" Zabuza grabbed onto his sword as he spoke.

"Tch...damn." Guy looked down to Haku and nodded him forward.

"I'm sorry." Haku whispered so Zabuza couldn't hear. As he stepped forward, he drew his senbon needles.

"Go on, brat." Zabuza looked down at Lee as he spoke.

"It does not have to be this way. You can still take my offer. Come with us." Lee had yet to take a step forward.

"Get going." Zabuza turned his gaze away from him.

Lee stared at him for another few seconds. "Goodbye, Zabuza-san." Lee whipped out a kunai and also took a few steps forward.

Tazuna watched in panic as Lee and Haku walked up to each other. The bridge was now completely silent except for the footsteps of the two Shinobi, as they got closer and closer. The anxiety was almost too much for the older man's heart. "Hey!" Tazuna whispered to Guy, "Shouldn't you join him? This is much too risky. What if Zabuza attacks?"

Guy kept a grim expression as he stared forward. "Zabuza won't move. He wants to test my nerves. He wants me to make a mistake." Tazuna looked back to Lee. He really hoped Guy was right.

The two Shinobi stopped ten paces from one other. "Please, make this a most youthful battle." Lee brought his kunai up in front of himself as he spoke. He smiled at his opponent, a very tight-lipped one.

"I would rather not fight you at all, if it can be helped, I would rather not kill you." Haku raised his senbon to throwing position.

"That makes two of us." Lee's smiled dropped and his look became completely serious.

"Naruto-san and Hinata-san have been training hard since the incident. You'd be proud of them." Haku threw the senbon and vanished a second later. Lee easily deflected all of them and then looked for his opponent.

"I would expect nothing less from my teammates!" Lee looked down to see his shadow growing. Realizing that Haku was above, he jumped backwards just as Haku landed on the ground where he had been. His senbon struck dangerously low into the bridge. Still in midair from his jump, Lee whipped his kunai at his foe. Haku easily ducked out of the way and charged at Lee again. The second Lee's feet touched the ground he was off like a rocket. Haku hardly had time to block the fist aimed towards his face. Haku dropped low a performed a sweeping kick. Lee jumped over it and countered with a kick. Haku caught his leg.

"You are quite fast." Haku acknowledged. "It is apparent it will take more than taijutsu to determine the outcome of this match." Haku began forming hand signs with his free hand.

"Damn, he's using his Kekkei Genkai." Guy took a step forward but stopped himself.

"Unfortunately, taijutsu is all I have. However, I will make it enough to beat you!" Lee pulled his leg back and freed it from Haku's grasp. He landed in a crouching position. Just then, he noticed ice shards coming at him from every direction. "What?" Lee quickly launched himself into the air to avoid being skewered.

"Lee...I can't watch this battle. Not like this." Guy felt himself inclined to run to his student that he hadn't seen for two weeks.

"Wait right there, Might Guy, I want to see this play out. Unless you want me to go for the bridge builder?" Zabuza laughed again as Guy paused where he was. He grit his teeth. Zabuza was right and he knew it. He couldn't leave Tazuna's side just yet.

Lee landed on the ground just as a spike of ice shot from it at him. Lee quickly moved to the side. Two more shot at him from his left and right and Lee was barely able to duck under these. He rolled sideways to avoid yet another spike that came from water that littered the bridge. Zabuza had prepared this before hand. As Lee jumped up from his roll the water beneath him turned into solid ice. Lee quickly lost his footing and slid painfully to the ground. He looked up to see Haku flying at him again, senbon ready. "Now I got you!"

"I'm sorry, Tazuna-san, Lee needs my help!" Guy shot forward but Zabuza immediately stood in his path. "Out of my way!" Guy shouted as he swung at the shirtless ninja. Zabuza used the broad side of his sword as a shield from Guy's punch.

"If that's how you want it, then you leave me no choice." Zabuza jumped back, slung his sword onto his back and put his hands together. The mist quickly intensified until Guy could barely see his own hand in front of him.

"This mist is too think even for you Zabuza, how do you expect to fight like this?" Guy shouted into the white fog. He started looking around for any sign of his opponent.

In response to his question, Guy heard a deep chuckle. "You forget what I used to be, Might Guy? I was a silent assassin of Kirigakure. Killing you when I can't even see you happens to be a specialty of mine."

Lee rolled out of the way just as Haku hit the ground again. The frozen bridge now worked to Lee's advantage as he easily slid far enough away from Haku to get back into a ready stance. "Impressive, you think fast on your feet. You are also able to dodge attacks coming from multiple directions at once, no doubt experience you have received from training with Naruto-san." As Haku spoke the mist grew heavier. Soon Lee was unable to see his opponent. "Unfortunately for you, I trained with Zabuza-san, fighting in this mist is little of a disadvantage for me."

"It won't make a difference if we are far enough away from the source." Lee jumped backwards and began running away from where he assumed Zabuza was. As he ran he heard just the barest sound of whizzing through the air. Lee ducked just as a set of senbon flew over his head. He heard it again and Lee turned his head to the side to avoid another set. The farther he went the more the mist seemed to clear. His idea was working. Suddenly his progress was halted. Lee looked down to see his feet trapped in solid ice. He couldn't get out.

"No escape this time!" Haku appeared in front of Lee, his senbon poised to strike.

"Your assassination attempt won't work on me, Momochi Zabuza! I am a Jonin of Konoha. If you get close enough to me, I'll sense you in an instant!" Guy walked around aimlessly as he spoke. Waiting for Zabuza to make his move. Guy would be ready.

"Hmm…you may have a point there. Too bad there is another man here who doesn't have the same skills as you!" Guy paled when he heard Zabuza's threat.

"Oh no!" Guy began running for where he knew Tazuna was. He had to make it. There was no way he couldn't. Guy was just barely able to make out Tazuna's form now. Then he saw it. A giant blade cutting through the mist. He wasn't going to get there in time. "Tazuna-san, move!" Guy only hoped he would react in time.

"Kaiten!"

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Zabuza's sword bounced harmlessly off of Hinata's spinning shield.

Haku struck true, but he hit Naruto instead of Lee. "Who's got who?" Naruto laughed as blood fell from his mouth. He grabbed onto Haku's arm as a clone ran up from the right. Haku wasn't able to pull away and the new Naruto nailed him right in the face. Haku went rolling away. The Naruto with senbon in him bent over, coughed up more blood and popped while the other Naruto disappeared into the mist after Haku.

"It's good to see you alive and well Bushy Brow!" Lee whirled around to see the real Naruto crouched at his feet, stabbing at the ice with a kunai. In just a couple seconds Lee was free and able to move again.

"Naruto, you saved me. I thought for a split second that the one that took the blow was you." Lee nodded gratefully to Naruto who stood up, now that his task was complete.

"Yeah, that trick is pretty handy." Naruto laughed. "We can catch up later, right? I got two clones left fighting that guy, we have to help them." Lee nodded happily.

"That won't be necessary." Haku's voice rang out from all around.

"Crap!" Naruto and Lee quickly moved so they were back to back with each other. "I can't believe he beat them so fast. One second they were there and the next they just died. How did he do it?"

"Simple, don't you see? You are already trapped inside my jutsu." The mist around them cleared enough that Naruto and Lee could see they were completely surrounded by mirrors. There was a Haku in each one.

* * *

"What the hell?" Zabuza nearly lost his grip on his sword as it bounced backwards. The spinning shield that had deflected his blade disappeared to reveal Hinata slowly stopping her spin. "You bitch! You think that pathetic jutsu will be enough to stop me?" Zabuza brought his sword back up.

"Konoha Senpu!" Guy landed a powerful kick into Zabuza's stomach. Zabuza was launched backwards into the mist, where he disappeared from sight. Guy landed in front of his student. "Hinata, nice work. I trust there were no problems." Guy looked back at his student.

"Tazuna-san's house was attacked by a couple of samurai before we were able to leave. We think they were Gatou's thugs." Hinata said, looking ready to spin if Zabuza showed himself.

"What? Is my family okay?" Tazuna interrupted.

Hinata nodded. "They are fine. The Samurai were trying to kidnap your daughter but Inari stood up to them. He gave me and Naruto-kun the perfect distraction to sneak up on them and take them out. After we got them we hurried here as fast as we could. Thank goodness it appears we weren't too late."

"Where is Naruto? I don't see him around." Guy glanced around briefly for his other student.

"He's here, but he stopped to aid Lee-senpai.". Hinata answered quickly.

"Excellent. Your fires are burning brightly." Guy gave Hinata the thumbs up before he turned serious again. "Listen, Hinata. Don't leave Tazuna's side no matter what. I will fight Zabuza in the mist alone. Can I count on you to make sure Tazuna is safe?"

"Yes sensei, I won't fail you." Hinata stood firm.

"Good, be careful!" With that, Guy charged into the mist. "Alright, Zabuza, it's time we settle this!"

"Fine by me, I'm going to make you regret those words!" Zabuza shouted from within the mist.

* * *

"What the hell is this?" Naruto shouted. He and Lee were still back to back. "You didn't mention that you were capable of making this many mirrors! Not to mention that you can make one of you in each mirror!"

"Of course not. A true Shinobi never reveals his secrets while not in a battle. The results could be fatal." All the reflections moved as one as they reached into his back pouch.

"Are they clones?" Lee eyed each one extremely carefully in an attempt to decipher even a minor difference.

"No, they're not clones." Haku answered now. "They are merely reflections. Now then, it's time I show you what real speed is." Each Haku lifted a single senbon. In an instant, dozens of needles littered the floor. Naruto and Lee now had scratch marks everywhere. It happened so fast it took both of them an instant to realize what had happened. When they did, they both fell to the ground in agony.

"What the hell?" Naruto gasped. "That attack came from everywhere at once. Those must be clones!"

"No, that was an extreme speed. I should have taken my leg weights off." Lee started to reach for them but a senbon pierced his hand. Lee drew it back quickly.

"There will be no need for that." Haku said. "I'd prefer you guys just lay quietly and give it up."

"Like hell! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Three more Naruto's popped up. "Okay Bushy Brow, if we can't keep up in here then we just gotta bust out. Let's make a run for it!"

"Right! Let us go!" Lee got up and started running. Naruto and his clones did the same, each of them went in a completely separate direction.

"It's pointless." Haku vanished from the mirrors for a second. In that second Lee, Naruto and his clones were all thrown backwards. They had hardly gone more than a few feet. "You have trained quite hard these past two weeks in order to make sure your clones wouldn't pop upon receiving damage. I'm sorry to tell you that all that training was completely pointless, Naruro-san."

"Go to hell, Haku." Naruto picked up a needle that was laying on the ground. "For being so fast, your aim really sucks. Not a single one of these has nailed us directly."

"Is that so?" Haku asked. In the next instant, Naruto had three senbon in himself and each of his clones. Each one slowly fell over and popped.

"Damn it." Naruto slowly stood back up. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Three more clones popped up. "Again, Bushy Brow!" Naruto and his clones started running.

"Right!" Lee also began running for an exit.

"You are trying my patience." Haku flew for Lee first. When he was knocked back he went for the Narutos. He nailed the first one in the throat, forcing it to pop. Haku landed in a mirror and immediately jumped for the next one. He stabbed it and it also popped. Haku turned to get the next one but one of his own senbon flew right in front of his face. Haku backtracked quickly into a mirror before jumping back out and quickly knocking back the other two Narutos.

"Damn it, I almost had him." One Naruto groaned as he got up, both of them picked up another senbon.

Lee looked at him in surprise. "You can see him move?"

"Not exactly. I'll explain later. Can you keep going Bushy Brow?" Each Naruto appeared to make another clone.

"Of course." Lee pulled a couple senbon out of himself as well. He then stood up. All of them took off in a separate direction again. Haku decided to go for Naruto first this time. He took care of another clone. Suddenly, he felt a senbon pierce his shoulder. Haku was so surprised he stopped moving.

Lee noticed right away and changed his direction. He jumped and spun in the air towards his opponent. Haku blocked his spinning kick but Lee's follow-up punch nailed him square in the stomach. Haku flew into a mirror, but instead of smashing into it, he sunk inside.

"Heh, I got him that time." Naruto smiled proudly to himself.

"That shouldn't be possible." Haku muttered in disbelief. "No one can see my movements. I have to end this fast." Haku launched himself at Naruto before he had a chance to replace his fallen clone. When he popped this one, another senbon flew at him. Haku barely ducked this time and then flew back into his mirror. "Now I get it. You can't see me at all can you?"

"Figured it out already?" Naruto chuckled. "That's right. Learning to maintain my clones wasn't the only thing I learned while training. When you pop my clones I know right where you are. I just have to throw one of the needles you leave me when their knowledge comes into my head. So far, I'd say it's working pretty good."

"Most impressive Naruto!" Lee pumped his fist into the air. With this strategy, escape probably wasn't even necessary. They just had to run around and force Haku to attack them. Taking off his weights wouldn't be needed either.

"Shadow Clones take an incredible amount of chakra. How long can you keep this up?" Hakus appeared in all of the mirrors again.

"Way longer than you'll be able to keep up this crappy jutsu of yours." Naruto bragged. "I have the most chakra of any genin in the Leaf. There's no way I'll run out against someone like you!"

"This is most unfortunate. I had been avoiding your vital points. I had come to enjoy your company over these past couple weeks, but it would appear I no longer have any choice but to kill you." Haku launched himself at Naruto. He pierced him in the heart. He disappeared in a poof of smoke. "Now just you left." Haku threw another set of senbon at Naruto and Lee. Naruto having received information from his clone was able to roll out of the way. Lee wasn't so lucky but he did manage to avoid getting hit in his vitals.

"Damn it, I think he's serious." Naruto formed the ram seal once again. "Bushy Brow, you going to be able to go another time?" Naruto looked with worry over at his teammate.

"Y-yeah, no problem, Naruto." Lee staggered to his feet. He didn't even bother to pull any needles out. He didn't want to admit it, but he was still sore from being thrashed by Zabuza a week ago too. Now he was covered in needles. Anyone would be exhausted, yet he couldn't afford to let his teammate down.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Again, three more Narutos appeared.

"Why do you try so hard? Can't you see that it is impossible to win in here? My jutsu has never fallen before." Haku was frustrated now. Now Naruto was dodging his senbon. Proof that this was taking far too long. He was running out of chakra. Haku was going to have to get underhanded to end this.

"It's because we can't die yet. We're finally together again! There's no way I'd let something as stupid as dieing split us back up!" Naruto and his clones took a running stance.

Lee smiled happily at his best friend. "Let's take this guy out, Naruto."

"You got it Bushy Brow. Let's go!" The Narutos took off. Lee started to but a senbon hit him in the calf, causing him to stumble and fall. Haku flew at Lee now. Naruto stopped and turned. Time seemed to slow down. Haku was flying at Lee, one senbon ready to strike him down. Naruto whipped a kunai out of his pouch and began to run towards Lee as well. Haku was too close. He was going to strike. Putting on a final burst of speed Naruto got in front of him and swung his kunai. It impaled Haku in the stomach.

Lee looked up to see Naruto standing in front of him, a senbon run through the side of his neck. Haku was bleeding hard from the stomach and he appeared to be coughing up blood. "Naruto! Your clone got him!" Lee rose slowly to his feet.

"Not yet!" Naruto roared and pulled the kunai out. He went to strike again but Haku pushed him back and jumped towards his mirrors, throwing more senbon as he did. They all connected with Naruto. As this happened, three Narutos disappeared. The one who had taken the hits remained.

* * *

Guy ducked under another swing Zabuza made. He turned around to deliver a powerful kick, but as always, Zabuza was gone. They had been going back and forth like this for minutes now. Zabuza would appear swinging, Guy would block or dodge and return fire, only for Zabuza to have already vanished back into the mist.

"This kind of battle doesn't much suit my flames of youth, why don't you say we make this a little more head on?" Guy jumped over a low swing from the sword. When he landed, Zabuza wasn't anywhere to be seen. Then he heard the whizzing of the blade from behind him. Guy realized with fear that he couldn't dodge all the way this time. So he jumped backwards. The back of the blade by the handle cut deep into his hip. Guy was able to deliver a powerful elbow into Zabuza's ribcage in exchange though. Zabuza disappeared back into the mist.

"That sounds fun, but no thanks. Any minute now and Haku will have your two students down and he'll come to assist me. Not even you can take us both at once." Guy wasn't able to pinpoint Zabuza's voice.

"That is a most unyouthful strategy. I would have expected more pride out of you!" Guy took two small steps backwards. His hands were ready for anything. "Besides, how can you be so sure your pupil will win? He is outnumbered himself."

"Haku could never lose. He for sure has them trapped in his jutsu by now. Once that happens it is only a matter of time. I guarantee it." Zabuza appeared right in front of Guy, thrusting his sword forward. Guy stepped to the side and punched Zabuza through the face. He turned into water. "I got you know!" Zabuza was in the air above Guy. He swung his sword down.

This time instead of dodging, Guy spun around and slapped his hands on either side of the blade. He managed to halt its progress inches before it split his face. Zabuza's feet hit the ground. He tried to pull his sword back but he couldn't move it.

Guy smirked. "Wrong, I've got you now!"

* * *

Lee couldn't move. He couldn't speak. This one was a clone too, right? He had to be. Naruto must have made an extra and snuck out already. Naruto slowly turned his head to look at Lee.

"Sorry to say Bushy Brow, but I'm the real one." He must have known what he was thinking.

Naruto's voice broke Lee from his shock. "No! Why are you the real one? Why did you jump in front of him?"

"I had too, it had to be me, no clone of mine would have survived through this. It was the best way to save you." Naruto wobbled a little now.

"But why did you have to save me? You were the one who was actually keeping up with him. You should have saved yourself!" Tears were beginning to well up in Lee's eyes.

"I promised Tenten." Naruto whispered. Lee's eyes grew big. "I swore to her that I'd keep you safe." Naruto fell backwards. Lee stumbled down and barely caught him. Lee sat on his knees, supporting Naruto with his arms. "Besides, what kind of Hokage would I be if I let my friends die? It was bad enough when I watched you get captured."

"You can't be Hokage at all if _you_ die!" Tears fell freely from Lee's face now. "What was all that talk about nothing separating us? Were those just empty words?" Naruto smiled slightly up at him.

"It's funny." He completely ignored Lee's questions. "I didn't think anyone would cry for me when I died." Naruto's voice almost sounded relieved. "The whole village, they hated me you know. Even our generation. They all looked at me like I was going to destroy them. I didn't know what I'd done to deserve it until just before I became a genin. I want you to know too."

This was it. The secret Lee had wanted to hear since he'd met Naruto. Lee had spent hours in the library. Days, asking people to just try and get one more hint. Now he was about to get it. But he didn't want to know now, not like this. "No, Naruto." Lee choked out. "Conserve your strength. If you stop speaking you might still be able to live."

Naruto ignored him. "It was because of the Kyuubi no Yoko. It was sealed inside me as a baby." Lee's tears hit full force now. It all finally made sense, he had all the clues but he hadn't even been able to put it together. Now it was almost too late.

"Naruto, please, stop!" Lee begged. "It does not matter, I accept you regardless, Hinata and Guy-sensei still do as well. We do not care if you have a demon inside you, just live!"

Naruto felt tears start to slip out of his own eyes as well now. His voice came out hoarse. "Meeting you guys was the best thing that ever happened to me. I would rather die and never become Hokage than lose one of you. Thank you, Lee..."

"...for being my friend." Naruto closed his eyes and went limp right in the boy's arms.

"Naruto!" Lee put his face up to Naruto's chest. He didn't have a pulse. "This is the first time you actually used my name. Why did it have to be the last thing you ever said to me?" Lee's voice was muffled by Naruto's jacket.

"Naruto!" Lee screamed to the sky.

"Naruto lived a hard life. To have no one is to have no purpose. Meeting you, gave him purpose. Naruto and I were very much alike. He was just as much prepared to become a real Shinobi as I. To do that, you must accept death." Haku slid himself back into his mirror, regret was heavy in his voice.

"Be quiet!" Lee whispered. He gently lay Naruto down. Lee then sat cross legged next to him and began pulling senbon out of his body. Blood spurted with each one but Lee kept going. Soon, Naruto's body was free of them. Lee closed Naruto's eyes and then began to pull the senbon out of himself. "Naruto." Lee grit his teeth as he pulled one out. Haku just watched him silently, he owed him at least that. "You were my best friend. I am hurting so badly right now that I can not even describe it."Lee finished pulling off the senbon and then removed his leg weights. Haku still made no move to stop him. "The only thing that I can possibly think of to ease the pain is by avenging you. I will do whatever it takes, even if it destroys my own body." Lee slowly stood up, a pair of weights in each hand.

"Here I come!" He then threw one of them at one of Haku's mirrors.

"It will take more than just a couple pounds to destroy my mir-" Haku was cut off as the weights shattered the mirror he was in completely. The shattering caused all of the relfections to disappear, leaving only one Haku in a mirror. Lee looked at it immediately and whipped his second weight.

Haku barely managed to dive out in time. He fell out of it upside down. Nevertheless, he turned to throw his senbon at Lee but he was gone. Haku didn't even have time to wonder where he went as a elbow buried itself in his stomach.

"Konoha Kaigansho!" Lee shouted as Haku went flying backwards into the mist. Lee landed as Haku's ice mirrors shattered all around him. Haku's back connected painfully with the concrete, successfully knocking the breath from his body. Haku slowly stood up. Lee charged straight at him. Haku raised his arm and blocked a punch. He then jumped over Lee's sweeping kick. Lee vanished and Haku felt Lee's fist connect with his shoulder. Haku spun twice from the force of the blow. Lee wasn't in sight again. Haku heard him though. He bent low just as Lee's kick flew over.

"What incredible speed!" Haku blocked Lee's follow up kick. He skid back several feet from the force. "And power." Haku moved his head sideways to dodge Lee's next punch. "But I cannot afford to lose here!" Haku was now within Lee's guard. He threw his own punch. Before it could connect with Lee's stomach he disappeared.

* * *

"Let go of my sword!" Zabuza gritted his teeth and pushed down harder. Guy held his ground firmly. He wasn't even giving an inch. Blood spurt out of his open wound.

"You release your hold on it!" Guy retorted through clenched teeth. It was taking all his power to accomplish this task and ignore the pain. At the very least, he had Zabuza in sight now. Guy pushed upwards a little. Zabuza wouldn't budge either. Suddenly, a figure flew right under and between them. He rolled painfully passed them before stumbled up to his feet.

"Haku?" Zabuza looked over in surprise. Guy took the opportunity and began to push the blade up. Then Lee flew over them and pressed on his with his attack.

"Lee?" Guy was completely shocked now. He had never seen such a look of pure rage on Lee's face. He then realized that he could see farther into the mist than normally. Zabuza was lifting the mist? His surprise was greater than Guy had expected. Guy could now see Tazuna and Hinata as well. Hinata watched in horror as Lee beat on the boy she had come to know over the past two weeks.

"Lee-senpai! Stop!" Hinata took a couple steps away from Tazuna. "Haku-san isn't a bad person! There's no need to go so far!" Lee actually halted his attack to look at Hinata. Haku leaned painfully against the railing and rubbed his bruised cheek. Despite the apparent aggressive assault Lee was giving, hardly any of his blows were more than glancing. He was too worked up to fight properly. A fact Haku was using to stay alive at the moment.

"He is not a bad person?" Lee asked in disbelief. Hinata could do nothing more than look at him in confusion. "He is the worst kind of person!" Lee shouted, pointing a dramatic finger at Haku. "He, He killed Naruto! I can never forgive him for that!" Lee balled his hands into fists. "It's time." Lee then widened his stance and stuck his arms in an X in front of himself.

The world stopped for Guy and Hinata. Their thoughts ran exactly the same. Naruto was dead? Impossible. Lee had just been caught in the heat of battle and had misjudged. There was no way he was dead.

"First Gate:" Lee called breaking them both from their reserve. Guy finally had the peace of mind to say something. He let go of Zabuza's sword and dodged out of the way as it came crashing onto the ground. Zabuza stumbled forward from the unexpected shift.

"Lee, wait!" He took only a couple running steps.

"Open!" It was too late. Lee vanished for a second and then he and Haku tumbled off the side of the bridge.

Guy stopped running. There was no point following him. He had Zabuza still to fight. "Well, well. Seems like Haku did pretty good. Too bad for that kid of yours." Zabuza chuckled to himself as he swung at Guy again. Guy held up his hand and this time stopped the blade with one hand. "What?" Guy's back was still turned to Zabuza.

"You'll pay for that comment." Guy said darkly. He spun around a nailed Zabuza in the side of the head with a strong kick. Zabuza stuck his blade into the ground to keep himself from skidding. Zabuza regretted the decision. He was still close enough to see Guy's face clearly. The look of pure rage was something more akin to a devil than Zabuza had ever seen.

Guy reached into his back pouch causing Zabuza tensed up. Guy pulled out nunchaku and the Demon-Ninja let out a sigh of relief.

"You plan to beat my big sword with that small thing?" Zabuza had to suppress a laugh. Guy didn't even respond this time. Instead he swung his weapon around. "Suit yourself." Zabuza hefted his mighty blade and charged. Scary looking or not, he was going to split him in half. As he came to Guy he swung down. Guy swung his weapon to meet Zabuza's sword. The result was Zabuza's sword being knocked completely backwards. "What the-" Zabuza's speech was cut as Guy slammed the two polls together and then thrust them into Zabuza's face. "Gah!" Zabuza held his face with one hand. The other still held onto the sword. "You'll pay for that!"

Guy vanished. "Apparently you didn't hear me." Zabuza's eyes grew wide. The voice was right behind his ear. "It is you who will pay." Zabuza had no chance to move as his ribcage lit up in burning pain. He spun around swinging his blade. Guy knocked it back with his nunchaku again. Another swing around and one of the wood polls slapped Zabuza in the side of the face. The force sent Zabuza to the ground. Zabuza slowly started to stand up. "Is that the best you can do?" Guy's foot connected with Zabuza's stomach, lifting him completely from where he lay and into the air. Guy swung his weapon around again. Zabuza barely blocked with his blade. The force sent the still airborne Zabuza flying back a few feet. He landed and skid on the ground. Guy took a step towards him.

Zabuza's eyes grew wide with fear. "Stay away!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out four shuriken. He whipped them all. Three of them nailed Guy in the torso. One nicked him in the cheek. It started to bleed freely.

Guy wiped the blood off of it and looked down at it. "You disappoint me. I thought the bloody demon of the mist would pose a bigger threat than this." Zabuza felt his fear increasing. The man had lost it. He took the blow of those shuriken without even blinking. Guy vanished and reappeared in front of Zabuza. His nunchaku were already coming around. Zabuza blocked with the handle of his sword. He then pulled out a kunai and stabbed at Guy. Guy stepped back but it was too late. Zabuza struck right in between the ribs. Guy coughed up blood.

"I'm not done yet!" He swung his nunchaku again. Zabuza again blocked with his blade. He then pulled his kunai out before taking another stab. Guy jumped back and successfully dodged this time. "Hmm...so the cornered demon gets desperate. A good strategy though. Blocking with that big sword of yours and then slicing at me with your speedy, small kunai. It worked the first time but it won't help you anymore!" Guy began his assault again.

Hinata was blind to everything that was happening in front of her. The second Lee fell off the bridge, his words resounded in her head. She needed to see it for herself. Tazuna put his hand on her shoulder. "Hey, take me to him. I want to see him too." Tazuna's voice was solemn. Hinata nodded her thanks, grabbed Tazuna's hand and led them past the two fighting ninja.

It didn't take long to make out Naruto's body in the clearing mist. Hinata gasped at the sight she saw. His body was covered with little bloody holes. Dozens of senbon and shards of ice lay all around him. Tazuna doubted he would have even needed his glasses to confirm the boy wasn't breathing. Hinata knelt down to check anyways. He had no pulse, as she already knew. Hinata bit back her tears.

"You don't need to hold them in for me." Tazuna began wiping away his own tears. "Damn it, look at him. Smiling even in death." What Tazuna said was true. Naruto's mouth was curved upwards, even from the way he lay.

Hinata stared down at Naruto. So many things were running through her mind. Finally, words started to come to her. "I loved him, you know." Tazuna stared at her silently. "I've loved him for a long time, I think. I only just realized it recently though. It had started out as admiration. I wonder when it turned into something more?" Hinata smiled bitterly at how pathetic she was. This was the first time she had ever confessed aloud and he wasn't even alive to hear it.

"I was so happy when we were placed on the same team, I thought I could've died right then. It was a good thing I didn't. I had so many new experiences with him." Tears finally started to fall from her eyes. They hit Naruto in the cheek. "Sometimes he was a real idiot. But I fell even more in love with him because of it." Tazuna's tears picked up as Hinata kept talking. She slowly began rubbing his cheek. "Just recently, we made a vow to each other. I was going to become the heir to my clan. He was going to become Hokage. We were both going to get the respect we wanted." Hinata wiped away her tears. She shuddered for a second. "Damn it, Naruto!" Hinata shouted. Tazuna looked at her in surprise.

"Who is supposed to become Hokage now?" Hinata screamed as she banged a fist on his chest. "Who am I supposed to draw my confidence from now?" She hit him again. "Who am I supposed to accomplish my dream with now?" She hit him once more.

Her last question came as little more than a whisper. "Who am I supposed to love now?" No fist followed. Instead, Hinata broke completely down into tears.

* * *

Haku and Lee both landed on the water at approximately the same time. There was no mist down here at all. Instead, the clear blue sky and bright rays of the sun shined down on them. Something completely unfit for the battle that was taking place.

Neither shinobi paid any attention to the nice weather though. They were squaring off. Lee sent a flying kick at Haku. A wall of ice rose and Lee nailed that instead, leaving a huge crack. Lee disappeared and reappeared behind Haku. This time a hand of ice shot from the water and grabbed Lee's forearm, stopping his punch completely.

"You made a big mistake bringing me down here." Haku turned to face Lee. "This whole battlefield is now my weapon. There is no way you can beat me when we fight on top of the water." Haku rose his arms. In response, four spikes of ice shot out of the water at Lee. Thinking fast, Lee kicked the ice arm, freeing his hand. Lee then did a back flip, avoiding the spikes.

"I can not afford to lose here. I still have time left with the first gate." Lee charged again. Haku raised another wall of ice. Lee easily shattered it with his knee. He then released a chamber kick at Haku. Haku formed the water around his arm and made an ice gauntlet. He blocked the kick with that gauntlet. Lee landed on the ground and the water crawled up his feet and froze. Lee was stuck again like he was up on the bridge.

"I'm sorry, but this is it for you." Haku made a series of hand signs. The water around Lee began to spin and rise up. Not long and it was all the way up to his neck.

"It will take more than this to bring me down!" Lee flailed his arms as best he could but it proved pointless. As the spinning water rose over his head it solidified. Lee was now trapped inside a prison of ice. He couldn't move at all.

"It must be a painful way to die." Haku sympathized. "Not being able to move, not able to breathe. The only thing you can do is wait to die. I'm sorry that you are unable to avenge your friend." Haku turned around and started to walk towards the support beams on the bridge.

A burst of chakra made him stop. Haku turned around in surprise. What he saw was an even greater surprise. Lee was glowing and the ice began cracking. "Impossible." Haku murmured as the ice shattered completely with a loud bang.

"Second Gate: Open!" Lee said triumphantly. He touched the water and vanished. His fist connected with Haku's cheek, knocking him back. Haku landed on the water painfully.

"To have enough power to shatter the ice with pure chakra…incredible." Lee didn't give Haku any longer to admire his new strength as he charged at him again. Haku rose another wall of water in defense. Before it even turned to ice Lee burst through it. Haku brought up his gauntlet to defend. Lee's fist shattered it too. Ice spikes fired from behind Haku. Lee jumped backwards to dodge them. Wasting no time, Haku raised his hands. A giant wave of water formed all around him. Meanwhile, spikes of ice shot continued to shoot at Lee.

The water began to bend inwards. Soon, Haku had himself incased in a giant dome of water. The water turned to ice and Haku sat down and breathed a sigh of relief.

"You can not hide from me!" Lee shouted. He flew at the dome and nailed it with his most powerful kick. The ice didn't even crack. Lee jumped back and did it again. He then followed the second kick with a punch. The ice still didn't give way.

"You won't be able to break this ice. It is much thicker than my mirrors. Also, once this dome is complete it takes no chakra to maintain. While your gates and chakra exhaust out there I will be recovering my chakra in here." Haku sat cross-legged in the center of his dome. He had spoken more to himself. There was no way Lee could hear him from in here.

Soon, Lee's blows stopped. Haku smiled and stood up. It was time to end this. Then it happened. The top of Haku's dome shattered. Lee fell through and landed in a crouch right in front of him. "That shouldn't be possible." Haku slid backwards on the slippery dome floor. How did Lee know that the weakest point of his dome was the top where the water had merged?

"Anything is possible if you set your mind to it!" Lee jumped at Haku, his fist extended. A spike of ice shot from the floor, blocking Lee's fist. Lee slid backwards as three more spikes shot up right where he had been standing. Lee then slid himself forward. He jumped over another spike that appeared.

"Stop this! The dome is made of ice! Surely you see the hopelessness of this struggle!" Haku yelled as he ducked under Lee's kick. Haku slid to the center of the dome. He rose his arms and spikes fired from all around at Lee.

"I told you, anything is possible!" Lee vanished and all the ice shattered uselessly against itself. Haku looked downwards just in time to see Lee's foot fly up at him. In connected with his chin and launched him outside of the ice dome. Just as Haku's flight skyward stopped, Lee appeared behind him. The bandages on his arms wrapped themselves around Haku. They pulled tight, Haku could no longer move. Lee grabbed onto him and as they fell Lee began spinning quickly.

Haku realized with fear that Lee intended to slam him into the dome he'd created to defend himself. Haku closed his eyes and focused hard. The ice began to melt. Willing it to melt faster, Haku was barely able to make it all vanish before he and Lee nailed the water.

However, without the ice there, Haku and Lee drilled deep down into the water. Haku's ears popped from the pressure of going so far down. Soon their descent slowed. The now wet bandages snapped easily with a slight tug from Haku, he kicked off of Lee and began swimming towards the surface.

"Third Gate: Open!" Haku felt another boom of chakra. He turned around in disbelief. Lee started kicking with all his might. He flew at Haku like a rocket. Haku didn't have a chance to move out of the way as Lee nailed him in the shoulder. Haku swung around in the water. Right when he stopped spinning, he felt Lee nail him again in the back as he shot by again. Haku couldn't even tell if Lee was punching him or just plain ramming him any more.

Even scarier, Haku realized he had lost his bearings. With all the spinning, Haku didn't even know what way was up. Suddenly, Lee nailed him again. Haku watched the way the bubbles went that Lee created. Haku knew which way to go now. He formed a quick set of seals. A pillar of ice formed beneath his feet and started shooting upwards. Haku looked out of the corner of his eye. He saw Lee flying upwards towards him. This was going to be close.

Haku barely broke the water before Lee did. He channeled all the chakra into his feet and jumped. Combined with the pressure of breaking out of the water and Haku went higher than he had expected. He looked down to see the bridge was well below him. Haku's relief turned into pure terror as he felt Lee grab onto both of his ankles.

"It is over!" Lee roared. He began doing a series of front flips, taking Haku along for the ride. When he released his hold, Haku was flung towards the bridge at an alarming speed.

* * *

Zabuza had been one of the best swordsmen in his village. Even among the Seven that he was a group of he was considered one of the best. It was rare in his life that he met someone who outclassed him in skills with a weapon. For this crazy green beast to be someone who was better than him was of great insult to Zabuza. "Damn it! I'm going to tear you to shreds!" Zabuza roared. He charged and stabbed at Guy with his kunai again. Guy ducked under the kunai, stepped forward and swung his nunchaku upwards. The poll connected with Zabuza's chin.

"You won't be tearing anyone else to shreds ever again." Guy swung his nunchaku around and nailed Zabuza painfully in the back of the knee. Zabuza dropped down to his knees just as a crash appeared further down the bridge. Both Shinobi looked to see Haku laying on the ground. The boy started to stumble up but collapsed. Lee soon fell down onto the bridge too. He landed but then he too stumbled. The gates effects had worn off. "Seems like this is it, Momochi Zabuza, for you and your pupil!" Guy swung his nunchaku back into his pouch. "For ending my student's youth, I plan to take yours!" Guy cocked back his fist in preparation. Zabuza could only look at it in fear. This fist would definitely not be one he could survive.

Haku's vision blurred back just in time for him to see Guy bring his fist back. Haku again attempted to stand up. "Damn it!" Haku cursed. His arms were broken. He had used them to shield himself from the impact onto the bridge. He was alive but the price had been heavy. Haku barely managed to get to his feet. He could make it. As long as his feet worked he would be just fast enough to intercept that punch.

"Jyuuken!" Haku's vision blurred completely again. He coughed up blood and then fell to his knees.

"Zabuza-san…run." Haku fell to the floor, unconscious. Hinata stood behind him. Her open palm was still extended outwards. Her Byakugan still active.

"I believed in you, Haku-san. I really did." Her face was still stained with tears. A sudden movement in the mist caught the attention of her eyes."Guy-sensei, behind you!" Guy spun around at Hinata's warning. A man with a spear appeared out of what mist was left and charged at him. Guy grabbed it as the man thrust it at him.

"A sneak attack. Most unyouthful." Guy snapped the spear and then grabbed the man by the throat and slammed him into the ground.

Zabuza smiled. He didn't know who the man was or where he had come from but he gave him just the opportunity he needed. Zabuza stood up and hefted his sword. He was going to hack Guy in two.

"Don't even think about it. Guy shot his foot backwards. It connected with Zabuza's stomach. Zabuza coughed up blood and dropped his sword and kunai. Guy turned back to face him.

"Well, well. Would you look at this here! Poor little Zabuza's all beat up." Zabuza and Guy turned to see who was here now. Soon the mist cleared all the way to reveal the newcomers. Neither

Jonin liked what they saw. Gatou stood there and behind him was an army of thugs.

"Gatou." Zabuza growled. "What the hell is this? What are you doing here?" He slowly stood up to face his employer.

"Well you see, Zabuza, I've changed my mind again. I can't afford to triple your salary. I liked the idea of having you butchered more." An evil grin appeared across Gatou's face.

"What?" Zabuza's eyes got wide with disbelief.

"Yep, you're too wild lately. Too indirect. Who the hell kidnaps a kid so they can kill a different man two weeks later? Now that you and that other guy who had you shaken in your boots are all beat up, these guys will clean house. It's simple, cheap." Gatou laughed maliciously.

Zabuza stared down at the massive group in front of him. "I thought I already told you. No matter how injured, those men don't have the ability to kill a Jonin, let alone two."

"I don't like how you're insinuating that we should team up, but I don't see many other options at the moment." Guy stepped forward, cracking his knuckles. "I'll settle my score with you later."

"Guess that means we're in an agreement." Zabuza readied his sword.

"I will join you." Lee stumbled up next to his sensei. Zabuza and Guy both looked surprised to see him standing there.

"No, Lee. You've done enough. Opening the gates has tore your muscles, you must rest for awhile." Guy caught Lee as he stumbled forward.

"I have to get him. He is the reason this all happened. He is the reason Naruto is dead!" Lee looked fiercely at Gatou. He deeply regretted not killing him when he had the chance.

"I owe you one for what you did to my arm you brat!" Gatou pointed his cane accusingly at Lee. "I'm going to enjoy kicking your corpse when this is over."

"Over my dead body." Guy and Lee both turned surprised faces towards Zabuza. Even he seemed surprised by the words that left his mouth. The group was so surprised, no one noticed Hinata charge past until it was too late. Guy didn't have a chance to grab her. He was still holding onto Lee too.

"What the hell?" Gatou immediately turned and ran into the safety of his group. "I've had enough, kill the bitch and then the rest of them!"

"Hinata, wait! Don't do this, there are too many of them!" Guy watched in horror as she didn't listen.

It's not that she wasn't listening though. It was that she didn't hear him. Lee's words of how this man was the cause of Naruto's death rang true through her ears. She was going to pay him back in full. No matter how many thugs were in the way.

"Alright, I get dibs on the girl!" One man stepped forward with a sword in hand. Before he could even react he had a full Jyuuken strike through his heart. "What the-" The man coughed up blood and fell backwards. The rest of them paused and stared in shock at what happened. Hinata didn't stop though. She sprinted into the heart of the group. The men quickly got over their shock and started swinging whatever they could at her. She dodged and weaved through ever strike, throwing in her own here and there. Soon though she was completely surrounded and they all swung down at once.

"Kaiten!" All the thugs in the immediate vicinity were blasted backwards. Most of them fell on top of others, leaving more than half of them sprawled out on the ground, some of the men were impaled on weapons that they fell on. More than enough were down to give Hinata a clear gap to her target. Gatou reached the edge of the bridge and turned around. To his horror, all his guards were knocked down and the girl was coming straight for him.

"Wait, please stop. I'll give you anything you want. Money, power, men, you name it!" Gatou held up his arms in front of his face.

"Then give me back Naruto-kun!" Hinata struck Gatou in his broken arm. Gatou howled in pain. "Can you do that?" Hinata's next strike hit his shoulder. "Is it within your abilities to bring him back to me?" Hinata sent a Jyuuken into his gut.

"Please." Gatou begged as he doubled over. He had never felt pain like this in his life. His plea fell on deaf ears as Hinata's arms became incased in blue chakra for a split second.

"Juuho Soshiken!" She nailed Gatou right in the side of the head, killing him and sending him off the ledge. Hinata stood there, panting. She'd done it. She'd got to him.

"You bitch, you'll pay for that!" A couple of the thugs were running up behind her. Their weapons raised to strike. It didn't matter anymore though. Not to Hinata. She'd avenged Naruto. She was satisfied.

"Hinata, no, run!" Guy called. Time was in slow motion for him. He watched as the thugs raised their weapons. He let got of Lee and started to run. He watched Hinata stand straight. He watched the weapons fall. Guy had no time to do anything. Even he wasn't that fast. He'd failed not one, but two students.

Hinata closed her eyes and waited for the blows to come. They never did. Instead she heard a loud clang as all their weapons were deflected. She spun around in surprise to see Zabuza standing there. His sword had saved her life. "Surprised to see me, girl?" Zabuza swung his sword and split the group in front of him in half. "If you want to die, then die fighting. Don't die with your back turned to the enemy. How would that blonde brat have felt if you died so pathetically?" Hinata's eyes grew wide. Zabuza was right, she realized. She had been ready to throw her life away. But that wasn't right. That wasn't how Naruto would have wanted it.

Newfound determination settled into her eyes. "Let's go." Hinata's Byakugan activated and she slid into her stance.

"That's more like it." Zabuza said. He turned to face the thugs and charged forward without waiting for Hinata. One swing of his sword and three of them lost their heads.

"You bastard!" Another man shouted as he ran at Zabuza from the side with a spear in hand. He didn't get far as Hinata sent a Jyuuken into the side of his face.

"Nice one, girl." Zabuza nodded his approval before turning back to the gang of men. To his surprise some were looking the other way. "What's going on?"

"Guy-sensei and Lee-senpai are fighting from the other end." Hinata answered for him.

"Alright, then let's meet them half-way." Hinata nodded and they both charged together. They covered each others weaknesses well. Zabuza would take out many of them at a distance thanks to his massive blade. If one or two men got in too close, Hinata would easily dispatch them. Soon, they met up with Guy and Lee at the center.

All four shinobi quickly went back to back. The gang of men had been completely thinned out by now. There was only enough of them left to form a small circle around the Shinobi. Yet Lee had his doubts that they could actually handle what was left. His body felt like it was on fire and his vision was beginning to blur.

"Lee-senpai. I'm glad you're all right." Hinata managed to say.

"Yeah, same to you." Lee looked at his female teammate. His only teammate. "I'm sorry."

Hinata shook her head. "Don't be, I can't blame you." Hinata felt tears edge at her eyes again just from thinking about Naruto.

"Stay focused." Zabuza snapped. Even he felt like he could topple over at any moment.

"We're going to make you guys pay for killing our meal-ticket and half our men." A big man with a huge mace said as he edged forward slightly.

"Yeah, after we mount your heads on some polls, we're gonna have our way with the nearby town!" Another man shouted. "Right boys?" The rest gave a small cheer. A second later and the one who had just talked got hit in the back of the head by a small arrow. He toppled over dead.

"What the hell?" All the thugs turned to see what had happened.

"Now!" Guy shouted. All four shinobi sprung forward and took care of the bandits while their attention was diverted.

"What was that?" Lee asked as he struck down the last one.

"It was Inari-san and Tsunami-san." Zabuza and Lee both gave Hinata a strange look. Then she remembered that neither of them had met the two before. "Tazuna-san's daughter and grandson." Hinata clarified.

"Oh, I see." Lee looked across the bridge and saw all three of them. They were all leaned over Naruto's corpse.

* * *

Naruto slowly stood up from where he had been laying. "Where the hell am I?" He groaned while looking around. It looked like a sewer of some sort. There were pipes everywhere, not to mention how dark and dank it was. "Am I even alive?" Naruto wondered out loud to himself. "Oh no. What if this is hell?" Naruto started to panic. Then he heard it. At first Naruto thought it might be wind. But it was different. It sounded more like breathing. But what could be so big that Naruto could hear it like that? Naruto wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer to that.

Steeling his nerves, Naruto slowly began walking. At first, Naruto was afraid he was going to get lost, he made numerous turns just to follow the source of the breathing. Then Naruto almost laughed to himself. Lost? He had been lost since he got here. Soon Naruto came to a huge room with a gigantic cage on the other end. The word 'seal' was written on it. Naruto was impressed by the massive size.

"Ah…" Naruto jumped.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" Naruto shouted.

"So my idiot host has finally come to see me." Naruto located the sound of the voice. It was coming from behind the cage. Naruto peered at it but couldn't see anything but pitch darkness. So he edged closer. Soon he was just a few feet from the cage. A massive eye opened up and a claw shot to the edge of the cage.

"What the hell?" Naruto jumped back in surprise. "What are you? Where are we?" Naruto shouted his questions at it.

"You fool, you should know who I am!" The eye roared.

"No way, don't tell me you're the devil. On man, this really sucks, I knew I was in hell." Naruto balled himself up onto the ground and started rocking back and forth.

"You're not in dead! We are simply in your mindscape!" Naruto looked up in surprise at the massive eye.

"I'm not dead? This is my mind?" Naruto slowly stood back up. "Then what the hell is something like you doing in my mind?" Naruto pointed an accusing finger at the eye.

"You really are an idiot." The eye roared at him.

Then Naruto saw it. The barest flicker of a tail, of several tails. "You…" Realization dawned on Naruto. "You are that bastard fox! Why I outta kick your ass right now!" Naruto was quickly overcome with anger. This was the thing that had caused him misery for his whole life. This was why he never had friends. Now he could see it, right in front of him. He could just strangle it he was so pissed.

The fox roared with laughter. "Go ahead brat! Rip this seal right off and you and I can have a good round!" Naruto eyed the fox carefully.

"What happens to you if I die?" Naruto finally asked.

The fox's eye widen in surprise at the question. "Assuming I am still sealed inside a twerp like you, I'd disappear for awhile."

"But you'd come back? How long would it take?" Naruto scratched his chin in thought.

"One year. One hundred years. Not even I would know that. Why does an idiot like you want to know?" Naruto's questions confused the fox.

"So if I was in such a tough battle why didn't you help me out at all? Surely a big lug like you has some chakra to spare." Naruto pointed another accusing finger at the fox.

"Fool." Naruto was taken aback by the fox's newest insult. "I sensed no animosity or killing intent. If your life had been in danger I would have known it. That is why I didn't need to give you chakra!"

Naruto was about to say more but a drop of water hit him in the face. "Did you just spit on me?" Naruto asked in disgust. Two more drops hit him.

"No. The outside world is calling you back. Our conversation is over." The fox began to retreat farther into its cage.

"Hey, you damn fox!" The fox turned its eye towards Naruto. "I'm not an idiot! My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I'm going to be Hokage! Remember it!" Naruto had been fading as he spoke and when he had completed his sentence he disappeared all together.

"Naruto…" The fox whispered. "I'll definitely remember it when I'm ripping you to shreds." The fox grinned, revealing its massive teeth.

Naruto hurt like hell all over. He slowly began to open his eyes. He had to close them when something wet hit them. "Damn, that stings." Naruto moaned.

"Naruto!" Naruto recognized that voice.

"What's up, Inari?" Naruto completely opened his eyes to see the shocked and teary face of the boy. He also saw Tazuna and Tsunami.

"You…You're alive!" Inari was in complete shock.

"Dummy, of course I'm alive." Naruto began to sit up. "I can't die until I become Hokage."

"No, don't strain yourself." Tsunami cautioned.

"How is everyone?" Naruto ignored Tsunami and kept rising.

"They're all right." Tazuna answered while wiping his own tears away. "Gatou and his men showed up and we teamed up with the those mist-nin to beat them."

"Really? Man, that's going to take some explaining." Naruto was now standing. He looked over towards where his teammates were. He then looked over at Inari. "What's with the getup?" The boy was wearing a bunch of kitchenware like it was armor.

"I came to help out." Inari said proudly as he hefted up a tiny crossbow. "I tried recruiting others in the village but they were all a bunch of scared-y-cats so I went to leave by myself. Of course, mom wouldn't let me so she followed."

Naruto turned and looked at Inari's mom. She held a frying pan nervously.

"Hinata!" Inari called over. "Naruto! He's…Naruto is alive!"

Both of them looked over immediately. They saw Naruto standing there now, his eyes open. He slowly stuck his arm up and gave them a small wave.

"Naruto-kun!"

"Naruto!"

Hinata felt new tears returning to her eyes. She couldn't believe it. Naruto was alive. She ran up to him as fast as she could. She slowed to a stop just in front of him.

"How's it going?" Naruto tried to smile casually at her.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata leapt forward and gave Naruto the hardest hug she ever had in her life. She sobbed his name over and over into his shirt.

"I missed you too, Hinata. But your hug is crushing me." Naruto managed a pained smile as he patted her head.

Lee stumbled a little. His muscles were still sore, it hurt to move, let alone run like he was, but nothing was going to stop him from reaching Naruto now. His best friend was alive. He was nearly there when he stumbled again. He fell right into his other two teammates and they all fell over together.

"Ow…damn it Bushy Brow." Naruto moaned. He was at the bottom of the group.

"Sorry, Naruto!" Lee grunted. Naruto couldn't help it, he started laughing. Lee looked down at him in surprise. Then he too started laughing. Hinata soon joined in, her tears ran down her face as she did.

"Looks like it worked out for everyone after all." Zabuza mumbled as he began to fall forward. He was exhausted. Too exhausted to even think about continuing his fight with Guy.

"That it does!" Guy caught Zabuza before he fell and put his arm over his shoulder to support him. "I owe you the lives of all my students. Thank you, Zabuza."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Zabuza looked away from the man who was helping him stand. "Lee was a hostage, it would have been stupid to kill him. Besides, I only saved the girl. It was Haku who was too soft."

"But you were the one who found that boy. If you had found someone else I may have been short a student right now. Besides, I think his softness is rubbing off on you a little. You call Lee by his given name after all." Guy smiled brightly at him. "Speaking of your pupil, we should see about getting him medical assistance soon."

Zabuza turned to look at Haku. "It'll take more than that to kill Haku. He'll be ok."

Guy laughed. "We both have resilient pupils, huh?" Zabuza looked up to see Lee helping his two teammates up, they were all still laughing.

"Yeah, we sure do."


	10. Confessions

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_Confessions_

* * *

Tazuna had been to awkward dinners before. But this was ridiculous.

After the battle at the bridge, the two groups of ninja were taken back to Tazuna's house to receive medical attention. The Konoha Shinobi checked out okay with nothing but scratches and a couple deep cuts. Naruto wasn't injured at all. Zabuza had a few cracked ribs and some major bruising but it was nothing he couldn't handle. Haku was the one in the worst condition. On top of his arms being broken, and numerous cuts and gouges he had suffered internal damage to his lungs. He had finally woken up five minutes before dinner was being served and at Guy's insistence, the ex-Kiri-nin stayed for it. Which led them into their current predicament.

"Umm…Momochi-san, could you pass the soy sauce, please?" Inari was the first to break the silence of the otherwise quiet dinner.

"Huh?" Zabuza looked up in confusion. Then Inari's question registered. "Oh…yeah, here you go." Zabuza passed the soy sauce to Inari.

"Thanks." Inari mumbled as he accepted it.

Guy burst into laughter at the exchange, causing everyone but Lee and Naruto, who were immersed in their food, to jump. "Not such a bad guy, once you get to know him, huh?" Guy reached over and gave Zabuza a hard pat on the shoulder.

"Even demons know about table manners." Zabuza rubbed the spot Guy patted. "Unlike those two students of yours."

"Hey, we're hungry, dying takes it out of a guy!" Naruto said through a mouth-full of food. The room grew quiet after Naruto's ill-worded sentence. The only sound in the room was Hinata's chopsticks as they snapped to pieces in her hands.

She put her hands on the table and slowly stood up. "I'm sorry, I'm not feeling very hungry at the moment." She turned and walked out of the house.

"Don't worry, Haku never has been good at making friends." Zabuza said offhandedly.

"Speak for yourself." Haku muttered.

"What was that?" Zabuza looked over threateningly.

"Nothing!" Haku replied a little too quickly.

"Ah…damn." Naruto started to stand up. Then he paused. "Hey, Haku, you haven't touched your food."

"It looks very delicious. However, someone broke my arms and I find it quite hard to eat without them." Haku attempted to move his arms in their splints to prove his point. They all got it well enough.

"Right, my bad. You know, thought you killed Naruto and all. I could feed you if you want!" Lee picked up his chopsticks and began to try to feed Haku.

"No, no, that's okay. Zabuza-san's got me." Haku attempted to say politely. Zabuza snorted.

"A splendid idea! A teacher feeding his student in his time of need. You really are a good guy Zabuza!"

"I'm not feeding him. And don't call me by my first name." Zabuza crossed his arms in defiance.

"Please, Zabuza-san, I'm really hungry." Haku opened his mouth wide.

Tazuna smiled brightly. Finally a chance to get in the conversation. "Yeah, Zabuza. Be a pal and feed the poor guy!" The look Zabuza gave him shut him up for the rest of the night.

That was the last thing Naruto saw as he snuck quietly out of the room after Hinata. He stepped outside and looked around. She was no where in sight. "Of course this wouldn't be easy." Naruto sighed.

"Naruto." Lee's voice caused Naruto to jump up in surprise. "We have to talk." Naruto turned around slowly to look at his teammate.

"Look, Bushy Brow, I got something else to fix first. Once I get Hinata to forgive me, we can settle this." Naruto had a good idea what Lee wanted to talk about and he didn't want to discuss it.

"No, we are going to talk about the Kyuubi, right now." Naruto hated it when he was right. Good thing it wasn't very often he was right.

"What's to discuss? I was conscious when you said you accepted me. I don't know a lot of the details myself if that's what you want." Naruto raised his hands in front of himself defensively.

Lee shook his head. "That is not it. You have to tell Hinata."

"What? No way! She's pissed off right now, there's bound to be a better time. Besides, what's it matter to you?" Naruto shrugged Lee's words off.

"We are teammates, of course it is important." Lee took a breath. "Anyways, Hinata and I...kind of tried to find out on our own. We did not come up with the answer. We were supposed to find out together. Of course, because of the law, and because I respect your privacy, I cannot tell her myself." Lee smiled sheepishly.

"You guys what?" Naruto's mouth hung open in shock.

"What is done, is done. We wanted to know but figured you would not tell us." Lee was defensive now.

"Well you know why now. Don't you understand why I don't want anyone else to know?" Naruto was practically yelling now.

"You know Hinata would accept you, do you not?" Lee's voice was barely above a whisper.

Naruto, who had been ready to shout again, paused. "You're right, Bushy Brow. I'm sorry. I'll tell her, I swear. Just not right now."

Lee smiled at him. "Thank you, Naruto. Now go find Hinata." Lee gave him the thumbs up.

Naruto returned the gesture. "Will do! I'll be back with her in no time!" He turned around and ran off into the forest.

* * *

Hinata was crouched over the side of the river. She was washing her hands, again. Hinata found herself washing them whenever the thought of Gatou's death crossed her mind. She was scrubbing fiercely now. Soon, her hands were bleeding from the rough way she was treating them. "I'm such an idiot." She finally leaned back. She sat the edge of the water, watching her reflection. Her hands dripped blood onto the ground. "Why did I have to make a scene like that? Everyone else is trying to get along." A tear slid from her face and hit the running water.

"Hinata!" Hinata jumped in surprise. She turned her head just in time to see Naruto emerge from the brush. "There you are!" Naruto smiled down at her. "I've been looking everywhere for…what happened to your hands?" The smile on Naruto's face was replaced by a concerned frown. Her hands were raw, red, and bleeding.

"Oh, it's nothing." Hinata stood up and placed her hands behind her back.

"It's not nothing. Show them to me!" Naruto snarled as he walked up. He stood inches from Hinata. She looked away from him nervously. "Hinata!" The sternness in his voice caused Hinata to meet his eyes. Once she did, she wasn't able to refuse him. She slowly moved her hands from behind her back and held them up for Naruto to see. He grabbed her wrists and pulled them even closer. Hinata blushed from the contact.

"Who did this to you?" Naruto's voice cam out feral.

"No one did it to me! It was…I did it, Naruto-kun." The anger in Naruto's eyes disappeared. Confusion took its place.

"To yourself? But why, Hinata? Why would you do this to yourself?" Naruto was trying to fathom ideas in his head as to why. He wasn't able to come up with any.

"You heard about what happened after you…after you passed out?" Hinata couldn't bring herself to use the "D" word.

"Huh? Yeah I did. I heard how you kicked a bunch of ass! You even killed the head boss!" Naruto brightened momentarily.

"That's the problem!" Hinata shouted.

Naruto's mouth fell open in shock. "What do you mean?"

"I killed a man, Naruto-kun! I killed him and didn't even think twice about it!" Naruto was caught completely off-guard by this outburst. Hinata never shouted. "In fact, I was happy when he died. To me, I had avenged you. I'm an awful person. I feel like a demon!"

"That's not true!" Naruto interrupted Hinata. He gripped a little harder on her wrists. "Hinata, you're not a bad person! Do you know what that man has done to this country? You did these people a huge favor! You've freed them!"

"That doesn't mean I had to enjoy killing him!" Hinata interrupted him now. "Enjoying someone's death is something demons do!"

"You're not a demon! I would know! I talked with a real one today!" They both stopped shouting for a minute after Naruto's latest outburst.

"What do you mean?" Hinata broke the silence, with a much quieter voice. Naruto let go of her wrists and looked away now. "Naruto-kun."

"When I went under, I woke up in my subconscious." Naruto still wasn't facing her. "While I was down there. I met the Kyuubi no Yoko."

"What?" Hinata's head was spinning. "The Kyuubi no Yoko? How could you have talked to it? The Yondaime killed it…unless…"

"That's right. He didn't kill it. He sealed it inside of a newborn infant." Naruto finally met her eyes.

"Inside of you." Hinata said the words but she wasn't even aware of it. Her mind was in a distant place. All thoughts of Gatou and her guilt were gone. Everything snapped into place. Naruto's massive chakra reserves, the seal, the villagers hate. "The law, the reason the villagers hate you. It's all because of that?"

Naruto didn't see where this was going. A second ago it had been about cheering her up. "Well ye-"

"Idiots!" Hinata lunged into Naruto and hugged him hard.

"What?" Naruto stumbled backwards slightly from her newest hug.

"The whole village is just a big group of idiots! I can't believe they would treat you that way for something so stupid!" Tears welled up in her eyes.

If Naruto hadn't been in shock before, he was now. Silence settled around them for a few moments as he let her words sink in. When they did, he burst into laughter. Hinata' tears stopped momentarily from the surprise. She was about to ask why he was laughing but Naruto finally returned the hug. This motion brought Hinata completely back into reality. She started to blush heavily.

"They may be idiots, but we're sworn to protect them." Naruto released the hug and took a couple steps backwards. He was now an arms length away. "Besides, they're not all bad, some really good people live there too." Naruto smiled brightly at her.

"It'll be awhile before I'll able to forgive any of them." Hinata wiped away the last of her tears. Suddenly another thought hit Hinata. "Lee-senpai needs to-"

"He already knows." Naruto interrupted. Hinata's eyes widened. "I told him when I thought I was going to die. Speaking of which. Can't you forgive Haku? I mean, he purposely avoided my vitals. If it had been anyone else, I might actually be dead. I know you must be mad. I mean, I'd be mad if I thought one of my friends was killed too."

Hinata stared quietly at Naruto for a minute. He felt himself growing kind of nervous under her intense gaze. He couldn't even begin to fathom what was running through her head now. "It will be very difficult for me to forgive him, Naruto-kun."

"Yeah I-"

"Please listen." Naruto stopped. Hinata didn't often interrupt people. "You said you would be mad if you thought a friend had died." Naruto nodded, even more confused. "Lee-senpai has already forgiven Haku. Maybe it's because he feels bad because he broke his arms. Or maybe it's because he views you as just a friend. But to me, Naruto-kun, I like you as more than just a friend." Hinata took a step toward him.

"Oh, you mean like best friend?" Naruto snapped his fingers. "Yeah, I can see how that could make it a little harder."

"No, Naruto-kun, not like a best friend." Hinata stepped closer to him again.

"You mean like siblings than?" Naruto was confused again.

Hinata shook her head as she took yet another step towards him. She was right in front of him again.

"I don't understand, what-?" Naruto was cut off as Hinata wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned in, capturing his lips with hers. Naruto's eyes grew to the size of saucers. What the hell was going on? Was Hinata kissing him? But why? Did that mean that she liked him in the way it was implying? Surely it must? Since when though? All these thoughts ran through his head in less than two seconds. Which also happened to be the length of the kiss.

Hinata pulled back and looked dreamily at his shocked face. "I'm sorry. But I had to let you know." The only sign she got that he even heard were his eyes as they focused in on her face. "If this mission has taught me anything, it's that I could lose you at a moment's notice. I confessed earlier but you weren't conscious. So I will again."

"Naruto-kun. I love you." Naruto just kept staring. Hinata paused for a second and then continued. "I don't expect you to love me back, but like I said, you had to know." Hinata bowed her head to him and then bolted past in a dead sprint. She disappeared from sight before Naruto even moved.

Thing was, Naruto couldn't bring himself to move. It was like his mind had completely shut down on him. He couldn't even summon up the will to internally yell at himself. Something he was sure he needed right at the moment. Finally, he was able to slowly turn his body in the direction Hinata had ran. As he did, he brought his hand to his lips and touched them. Everything registered at once to him.

"I'm such an idiot!" He held his head with both hands and shouted. "What the hell am I doing standing here like a statue? Hinata's probably more upset than ever!" Wasting no time, Naruto took back off after her. He didn't know what he was going to say but he couldn't leave things the way they were. He could only hope he got to her before she ran into someone else.

Naruto didn't get very far before he almost ran straight into his teacher. Naruto stopped short and tripped. Guy, who had been running on his hands through the forest, jumped to his feet and helped his student to his feet. "Naruto! It warms my heart to see you keeping up with your exercise, but you must watch where you are going. A sprained ankle will ruin any ninja's day!"

"Guy-sensei, did you see Hinata run by?" Naruto frantically looked to see if he could see her at all. He completely ignored what his sensei had said.

"Hinata? I haven't seen her since she left the house. I thought you would have found her by now. It's been awhile." Guy's voice became laced with concern.

"Well…I did find her. But she ran off again." Naruto didn't meet his sensei's eyes.

"Did you two get in a fight?" Guy peered curiously at his student. He wasn't acting like his usual self.

"No, not a fight. It was more of a…misunderstanding." Naruto shuffled his feet nervously.

Guy rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "A misunderstanding huh? She didn't happen to tell you anything private did she?"

Naruto froze. He slowly looked up to meet his sensei's gaze. "How did you know?"

Guy smiled brightly. "I am your sensei! There is nothing about my cute students that is hidden from me! Now let me guess, you didn't know how to respond and she ran off while you were in a stupor?"

Naruto's jaw hit the floor. "Guy-sensei. You have to tell me what to do! I don't know where Hinata went! I gotta make this right though!"

"That a boy Naruto!" Guy wrapped his arm around Naruto's shoulders. "She must have went back to the house. Now run back there and poor out your feelings upon her!" He pointed towards the direction of the house.

"Yes, Guy-sensei!" As soon as I figure out my feelings for her Naruto added mentally as he took off towards the house.

The house came into view before Naruto even completely left the forest. Sitting on the porch was Zabuza. He was sharpening his massive sword. Naruto ignored his presence completely as he ran up to the door. He grabbed the handle and was prepared to fling the door open.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Naruto paused. He looked back at Zabuza. He was still sharpening his sword, wasn't even looking in Naruto's direction. Yet he was sure he had heard Zabuza speak.

"Why's that?" Naruto's hand slipped away from the handle.

"That teammate of yours ran back in tears. The bridge builders daughter got a look at her and went into a blind rage, she kicked all the men out of the house so they could have girl time. That never bodes well." Zabuza spoke nonchalantly and continued to sharpen his blade. "If you are indeed, the cause of her tears, than going in there would be suicide for you."

"But it's because she's crying that I have to go in!" Zabuza stopped sharpening. He inspected his sword carefully and ran a finger up it's length. He then stabbed it into the ground.

"Tell me, what do you plan to say to her to stop her tears?" He finally turned to look at Naruto.

"I don't know yet, but I gotta make things better!" Naruto started to reach for the handle again.

"Charging in head first won't make things better without a plan. That's a basic lesson in all ninja academies." Zabuza slammed his hand on the deck.

"This isn't a mission, this is comforting a friend!" Naruto turned back to Zabuza.

"You can apply mission tactics to real life and vice-versa. Use your head. Go in there now and you'll only make her cry more. Sort out your feelings first." Zabuza turned away from Naruto in disgust.

"Feelings? How the hell do you know what this is about, did Hinata tell you?" Naruto pointed an accusing finger at the mist ninja.

"Don't be so naive. Anyone could see what's going on here." Naruto lowered his finger.

"Were her feelings that obvious?" Naruto's hair cast a shadow over his eyes.

"I'd say so, she did take on a miniature army for you, after all." Naruto walked over and sat down next to Zabuza. His eyes were still downcast.

"Zabuza, what would you do?" The ex-Kiri ninja sighed.

"What is it with you people and using my first name? Half a day ago we were enemies!" He glared at Naruto but he didn't react. Zabuza sighed again. "How the hell should I know what to do? Being known as the Demon of the Bloody Mist didn't exactly attract the ladies. Why don't you ask your other teammate?" Naruto finally looked forward.

"You're right! I'm going to figure this out no matter what!" Naruto stood up.

"Haku and that clone went to the docks to go fishing, you'll find them there." Zabuza gestured in the general direction they were at.

"Thanks a lot Zabuza!" Naruto took off running.

"Quit using my first name! Or at least add an honorific!" Zabuza shouted after Naruto as he ran away. Zabuza waited until Naruto was out of sight to stand up and pick his sword back up. "Damn it all. I really am getting too soft."

Naruto arrived at the docks and started scanning down the line of them, looking for his teammate.

"Naruto!" Naruto turned to see Inari running up to him. He had a board game in his hand. He stopped just in front of the blond.

"Inari! What's up?" Naruto rubbed his head affectionately.

"I'm borrowing this game from my uncle so Grandpa and I can play. You heard what happened back at home?" Inari held up the game to show Naruto.

"Yeah, I heard." Naruto shuffled nervously at the subject.

"So what brings you here Naruto?" Inari was oblivious to the older boy's fidgeting.

"I'm looking for Haku and Lee." Naruto noticed Inari's eyebrows furrow a little. "What's the matter?"

"I don't get it." Inari said reluctantly.

"Don't get what?" Naruto felt a little better. He wasn't the only one who didn't understand things today.

"How can you guys be some chummy with Haku and Zabuza? They tried to kill you! No one is that forgiving!" Inari stared hard at Naruto waiting for an answer.

Naruto smiled down at Inari. "It's not easy to explain but here it goes. It's because we understand each other."

"Understand each other?" Inari looked even more confused.

"When Gatou betrayed Zabuza we had to team up to stay alive. When you've fought with another person to stay alive a special bond is formed between you. You too share that bond with us as well. You just don't realize it."

"I guess I understand." Inari still looked a little miffed.

"If you don't like that answer than how about this one?" Naruto offered. "It's because we're guys."

"What's that have to do with it?" This answer confused Inari more than before.

"We always get into fights. Sometimes those fights are with your best friends. After it's all over though, we laugh about it and move on. It's what guys do."

Inari stared at Naruto for another minute. "That's confusing." He finally said.

"Not nearly confusing as girls, trust me." Naruto patted Inari on the shoulder and walked past to continue his search.

It didn't take him too long to find the two of them. They were both sitting at the edge of one of the many docks. Lee had a fishing line in the water and Haku appeared to be in some kind of meditation. Naruto approached quietly. Just as he got there the fishing line gave a slight tug.

Haku's eye's popped open. "Now Lee-san!"

"Right!" Lee pulled the line out with all of his strength. This turned out to be a bad idea. The fish came flying out from the water, but the force of the pull quickly sent it flying. Not long after, it landed in the water, far away from the dock.

"That was pretty awesome!" Naruto stared out towards the sea in awe.

"No, it wasn't. Lee-san, I told you to control yourself. It took us awhile to get the fish to come back after you scared them all off with your voice." Haku would have rubbed his temple if his arms weren't broken.

"I apologize, Haku-kun!" Lee began to add a new worm to the line. "I will get it this time! If not, I will catch one hundred fish with my bare hands!"

Haku started at him quietly. "Don't worry, he's always like this." Naruto plopped down in between them.

"Naruto! Have you come to clash wills with the fish as well?" Lee cast the line back into the water.

"There won't be any fish to catch if you keep shouting." Haku mumbled, closing his eyes again.

"You meditating or something?" Naruto peered at Haku curiously.

"I can feel the fish as they move through the water. It is easier to sense them with my eyes closed." Haku didn't even open his eyes to answer.

"That's cool, anyway, I came to ask for advice." Naruto scratched the back of his head as he turned back to Lee.

"Advice? What kind of advice do you need?" Lee peered curiously at his teammate. Naruto was often too proud to ask for advice on things.

"Well…umm…how do I put this?" Naruto spun his hands around in the air as he tried to find the right words. "How bought I ask this? What do you like about Ayame-nee-chan?" Naruto finally asked.

"She is an incredibly attractive woman!" Lee didn't hesitate at all. "She comes off stern but really that is just because she really cares about people. She is outspoken and let's me know exactly what is on her mind. I find these characteristics most youthful. I am most grateful to you for introducing us!" Lee smiled brightly to himself. His thoughts of Ayame quickly pulling him from reality.

"Hmm..." Naruto scratched his chin. "That didn't help at all, actually."

"Perhaps if Lee-san knew why you were asking, he could help give better insight." Haku threw out, eyes still closed.

Naruto sighed. "I guess you're right. Okay Lee, what I'm about to tell you is very secret. Hardly anyone knows about this alright?" Lee pulled himself out of his thoughts and nodded vigorously. "Okay, here it is. Hinata, is in love with me."

A moment of silence followed. "So she finally told you?"

"What the hell, you knew?" Naruto pointed an accusing finger at his teammate.

"It was obvious to everyone." Naruto whipped his finger towards Haku.

"Why the hell was I the only one left out of the loop here? Didn't anyone feel the need to tell me?" Naruto held his head. "How could she go around even telling you and Zabuza?"

"She didn't tell me anything, I very much doubt she confided that information in Zabuza-san as well." Naruto looked at Haku in surprise. Then he turned to Lee questioningly.

"Sorry, she did not tell me either." Lee smiled sadly at his teammate.

Naruto's face lowered. "She never really was sick, huh?" Naruto sounded defeated.

"No, she was blushing because you were there with her." Lee confirmed. "So, she did confess to you?"

"Yeah."

"How did you respond?" Lee leaned in curiously.

"I didn't."

"Huh?" Lee drew back like he'd been slapped. "What do you mean you did not? What happened?"

"I didn't do anything, okay! She caught me completely off guard. First she kissed me and then she told me how she felt! I was so confused that I didn't know what to do! I'm still confused! She ran off crying and now I'm stuck. What the hell do I say to her?" Naruto panted after his outburst.

Lee looked at him closely. He could see the pleading in Naruto's eyes. He was truly lost. "Could it be that you want to turn her down but do not know how?"

"No, that's not it!" Naruto shook his head.

"Then just tell her you want to go out." Lee replied simply.

"That's no good either." Naruto kept shaking his head.

Lee's bushy brows furrowed. "I do not understand. What is it you want to do then?"

"That's what I'm asking you! How am I supposed to respond?" Lee felt the line tug.

"Lee-san pull now!" Haku shouted. Lee reacted quickly and pulled not quite so hard this time. The fish came flying out of the water and landed gently on the dock. It flapped around for a few moments and then lay completely still. They all stared quietly at it. "You are asking the wrong question, Naruto-san. Before you can decide what to do, you must decide how you feel."

"How I feel?" Naruto turned to look at Haku.

"Yes, now tell us, how do you feel about Hinata-san? Put your feelings into words." Haku's eyes were wide open as he talked to Naruto now.

"I don't know how I feel. I mean, it's Hinata." Naruto looked away from Haku's gaze.

"That's not good enough. Just "Hinata" tells everyone nothing. Let's try it this way. Do you hate her?" Naruto's head snapped around at the question.

"Of course not!" Naruto met Haku's eyes.

"Then do you dislike her?" Haku pressed on.

"No, I like Hinata. She's the nicest person I've ever met!" Naruto held his gaze.

"But you don't love her." Haku clarified.

"I don't know that." He finally looked away again.

"Don't look away!" Haku barked. "Meet my gaze." Naruto slowly brought his eyes back to meet his. "You say you don't know. But I think the truth is, you're afraid to know. Why is that?"

Naruto's eyes grew wide. He let the question go unanswered for a minute. Finally, his eyes looked resigned. "You're wrong. I'm not afraid. The thing is, I'm not sure if I know how to love."

Haku raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't know how?"

"Yeah that's right. You heard me tell Bushy Brow about my past. I grew up all alone. I had no family, no one who cared for me. I had to learn how to survive by watching everyone else. When I joined the academy, I saw how all the girls threw themselves at Sasuke and always professed their love to him. I thought that was all there was to it. I threw myself at this girl I was sure I was in love with. But now, Hinata who acted completely different, confessed to me, I don't know what to think anymore." Haku searched Naruto's eyes quietly. He finally seemed satisfied.

"Tell me. Do you think Hinata is attractive?" Haku finally asked.

"Attractive?" Naruto's eyes widened again.

"You know, pretty, beautiful, hot. However you want to word it." Haku's voice stayed monotone.

Naruto blushed. "Well…umm…I don't know."

"It's a simple yes or no. Is she attractive to you or isn't she?" Haku said sternly.

"She's cute, okay?" Naruto blushed harder.

Haku looked satisfied. "You said earlier that she is the nicest person you've ever met. What is it about her that made you said that?"

"She always puts others before herself. She compliments me when I do things right. She doesn't get mad or hit me when I do things wrong. When she smiles, it's always sincerely and I've never heard her tell a lie since I've met her." Naruto couldn't explain it. But he felt incredibly comfortable around Haku all the sudden. He felt like he could tell him anything.

"Compared to the other girls in the village, do you like Hinata more?" Haku continued his questioning without pause.

"Definitely. All the other girls are "Sasuke-kun this! Sasuke-kun that!" Not Hinata though." Naruto wanted to spit. Just thinking about the others put a bad taste in his mouth now. Suddenly it hit Naruto like a ton of bricks. He even felt that way about Sakura now. What the heck was happening to him? Naruto's internal confusion grew a little.

"How would you feel if Hinata started going out with another guy. How about this Sasuke-san you brought up?" Lee watched with growing interest as Haku asked his questions. He was really getting to the point.

Naruto felt his mind freeze. Hinata go out with Sasuke? "Not possible." Naruto told himself more than the others.

"Pretend it was. Pretend it actually happened. How would you feel?" Naruto tried picturing it. He was surprised when he felt his chest physically hurting.

That's not all he felt though. "I feel pissed. I wouldn't stand for something like that." Naruto growled out. Haku smiled slightly at his answer

"Far as I can tell, the only thing keeping you from loving Hinata is your own misconception about love." Haku said bluntly.

"Come again?" Haku's smile dropped.

"You are concerned that you don't know how to love. That is all that is holding you back from opening yourself to your teammate." Haku said slowly.

"So you're saying, that I might already love her, I just don't know it yet?" Naruto scratched his head in confusion.

"Close enough." Haku broke his eye contact and stood up. Naruto sat still for a minute, blinking rapidly the whole time. He finally stood up.

"Thanks a lot Haku. I think I know what to say now. I'll talk to you guys later." Naruto waved and then dashed off the way he had come.

Lee, who had sat quietly the whole time, stood up and walked up next to Haku. "What did you do to him?" He asked.

"Oh, nothing much. I just got him to be honest with himself." Haku had a sly smile on his face. "Now, let's get more fish. One definitely isn't enough."

"Yosh! Would you like a turn Haku-kun?" Lee held out the poll towards the feminine boy.

Haku looked down at his own arms. Lee followed his gaze. "Right! Sorry, I'll go for you then." Lee stiffly walked back to his spot.

* * *

Naruto raced back to the house. When he got there, Zabuza was no longer on the porch. Instead, Tazuna and Inari sat there playing the board game Inari had been carrying earlier. Naruto ignored them like he did with Zabuza. He marched up to the door and put his hand on the knob.

"Wouldn't do that." Tazuna said. "Tsunami's-"

"Upset, I know, but I know what I'm going to say this time." Without any further ado, Naruto opened the door and walked in, leaving a bewildered Inari and Tazuna.

Naruto stepped into the kitchen but didn't see anyone. So he walked into the next room. There, he saw Tsunami and Hinata sitting on the couch. Hinata wasn't crying at this point and her hands were now bandaged. They had a pot of tea sitting in front of them and Tsunami seemed happy enough. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. Naruto's train of thought was broke off as Tsunami turned and looked at him. Her smiling face was instantly replaced by a dark scowl.

"Just in time." Tsunami snarled. "I've got a bone to pick with you." She sat up and started to cross the room. Naruto gulped but stood firm.

"Please, let me talk to Hinata first." Naruto said boldly. "Alone. After I'm done you can say whatever you want." Tsunami stopped right in front of him. She glared down at him.

"Why should I?" She put her hands on her hips. "You shouldn't-"

"Please." Naruto interrupted. He knew he was taking a risk here, but he wasn't going to be deterred.

Tsunami glared at him for another second before she turned to look at Hinata. "What do you say?" Hinata looked down and blushed heavily.

Pushing her index fingers together, she finally spoke. "I'll talk to him." Tsunami looked back at Naruto reluctantly.

"You have five minutes!" She stormed towards the door. She opened it only to have Inari and Tazuna stumble in. "How many times have I told you guys not to lean on the door to listen to people? You two haven't changed at all!" Naruto flinched as he heard the door slam. He was still looking at Hinata who sat on the couch.

Naruto took a few deep breaths to steady his heart rate. "Hinata." She looked up and locked eyes with him. Naruto swallowed and walked over to where she was. He sat down on the opposite side of the couch. "I'm sorry." Naruto finally said.

"No. I'm the one who is sorry, Naruto-kun!" Hinata said quickly. She took a breath to say more but Naruto shook his head at her.

"You're not at fault here, Hinata. Please listen to me, this is my answer to your confession." Hinata's mouth snapped shut. Her blush remained on her face.

"Thank you, for confessing to me, but you know, I haven't even really known you all that long. We do train together everyday but we don't really hang out. I always thought of you as a really good friend, but never as a girlfriend." Hinata looked down sadly. "Saying it like that is kind of rude, huh?" Naruto joked slightly. "But, if it's ok with you, do you want to try going out?"

Hinata looked up in surprise. "Eh?"

"Well, I mean, we're going to get to know each other better anyways, aren't we? If that's the case, saying we are going out, instead of just being friends during that time would be kind of nice." Naruto rubbed the back of his neck.

"So then…" Hinata couldn't believe what she was hearing. This was like a conversation she thought doomed to stay in her dreams.

"So then starting from now on, you're my girlfriend, alright?" Naruto did his best to make himself look as confident as his words sounded. Tears started to slide down Hinata's face. They started coming too fast for her to stop. She began wiping them away. "He-Hey." Naruto stuttered. This wasn't the reaction he had been expecting.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun." Hinata wiped away more tears. "The tears just won't stop coming. I'm happy." She paused to wipe away more tears. "I'm so happy." Naruto smiled awkwardly at her.

* * *

"So how did it go?" Lee asked from where he lay on the ground. He, Naruto, Zabuza, Haku, and Guy were all sleepingin the living room. Hinata had gotten to sleep in Tsunami's room with her and Tazuna and Inari each took their own rooms as normal.

"Well, it went pretty good, actually." Naruto mumbled, a deep blush on his face. He was glad it was so dark. No one was able to see his face this way.

"What does good mean?" Haku called from the couch. They had all agreed that he could have it since his arms were broken. "Are you two going out or did you shoot her down and she took it well?"

"Since when did you care about others and their relationships, Haku?" Zabuza actually spoke up.

"I don't want to hear that from you right now, Zabuza-san. From what I hear, you also gave him advice." Zabuza had nothing to say to that.

"We're going out now." Naruto took the chance to answer Haku's question. "Although honestly, it doesn't feel like anything has changed. Is it supposed to be like that?"

"Feelings don't just change over night. It'll take time for you to actually feel it." Zabuza muttered quietly but everyone heard him.

"I told you, you're getting soft." Guy chuckled from his corner of the room.

"Don't make me get my sword." Zabuza knew his threat was empty, but he said it anyways.

"Speaking of the manner of your new relationship, Naruto. We have to talk now." Guy ignored the threat and addressed his student.

"Huh? What do you mean, Guy-sensei?" Naruto didn't like the tone of his sensei's voice.

"It's nothing big, just information that I am obligated to pass to you as your sensei." Guy waved off Naruto's worries. "It is not uncommon for ninja in the same team to fall in love and enter into a relationship, but you should understand that there are guidelines the two of you have to follow now."

"Guidelines?" No one had mentioned this to him.

"Yes, again, it's nothing big, just standard." Guy again attempted to ease his student's worries. "The first one is simple. Never let your personal feelings get in the way of the mission. Just because you're in love doesn't mean you can throw away the mission to be with her."

"Sounds easy enough." Naruto sighed in relief. These wouldn't be so bad.

"Next. No sex during a mission. This is ve-"

"What the hell are you saying? We're not even close to that yet! We ju-" Naruto's mouth was clamped shut by Lee.

"Shh...you'll wake everyone up." That was the last thing Naruto ever wanted to hear from Lee who was constantly shouting himself.

"I'm being serious here Naruto. Don't disregard these rules just because they seem impractical now." Guy warned his student.

"Whatever, tell me more tomorrow, I'm going to sleep." Naruto rolled over and placed his pillow over the top of his head.

Zabuza chuckled. "How childish."

"I never noticed how big of a hypocrite you are until today Zabuza-san."

"What was that?" Zabuza shot up but Haku appeared to be snoring in his sleep. "We'll see how funny you think that is when I have Lee feeding you tomorrow." Zabuza plopped back down. No one said anything else the rest of the night, but Haku did have nightmares about Zabuza's threat.

* * *

The next day, all the shinobi except Haku were busily running around the bridge as they helped to construct it. "How the hell did this happen?" Zabuza grumbled out curses as he continued to work.

"You were so wracked with guilt that you decided to lend us a hand." Guy answered enthusiastically. He was doing twice the workload of everyone else.

"No, I mean how come it is only us Shinobi helping construct this bridge? What about the others in this village?" What Zabuza said was true. Other than Tazuna, they were the only ones here on the bridge working on it.

"This village is a bunch of stuck-up jerks! That's what happened! Once I finish building this bridge for them, I'm moving out of this country! I'm sick of it!" Tazuna continued to hammer away at the support beams.

"Why not move into Konoha?" There were Narutos running around everywhere. This was the first time Guy had ever given him permission to make more than three clones.

"Konoha, huh?" Tazuna stopped working and gazed at the sky as he thought. "That doesn't sound half bad actually, you think they would be in need of a construction worker like myself?" Tazuna smiled brightly at the thought.

"I'm sure that once we told them about how brave you are you would have job offers flying in from every company in the village!" Guy boomed from the other side of the bridge.

"They might even try to make you a Shinobi." Lee joked as he brought over a large sum of wooden planks.

"A Shinobi, huh? Hey, I bet you if they did, it'd only take a couple months before they made me Hokage!" Tazuna let out a big laugh as all the Narutos around him shook their heads.

"Speaking of bringing people back, what are we going to do about Zabuza and Haku-kun?" Lee jogged up to his sensei as he asked his question.

"Hmm...that's a good question. I would like to bring them back if we could, but we have to consider our relationship with Kirigakure after all. Come the next Chunin Exams there will be no hiding either of them. Wars have been started on less, after all." Guy set down his workload and scratched his chin thoughtfully.

"Certainly we could make a deal with them. Or at least hide the fact that we took them. Why don't we say they are our prisoners?" Guy shook his head to all Lee's suggestions.

"None of those will do. We need something better than that." Guy rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he stared at the topics of their conversation.

"How about they were working for Konoha the whole time?" Guy perked up at Lee's newest suggestion.

"Explain that." Guy was curious as to where he was going with this.

"Konoha could have hired Zabuza to sneak into Gatou's employ and act as a double agent. When we got the information we needed, we staged a battle to draw Gatou out of hiding. When that was successful, we took Gatou's life. It was all one big test to see if Zabuza could be trusted. Since he wasn't really an enemy it would also explain why the Hokage sent fresh genin on such a mission. There was no actual ninja opponent so it still counts as a C-rank for us. Surely Kirigakure couldn't complain if we decided to make him our own that way?" Guy ran what Lee just said through his head several times.

"With some adjusting, that might work!" Guy smiled brightly. "Good job, Lee!"

"Thank you, Guy-sensei!" Guy nodded at him and turned to everyone on the bridge.

He cleared his throat to get their attention. "It's been decided!" Guy announced. "Zabuza and Haku shall come back to the Konoha with us!" Everyone but Guy himself jumped as a loud clang hit the bridge. Zabuza, who had been holding onto a huge pile of wood, dropped them down in surprise. Suddenly his face contorted in anger.

"What the hell do you think you're talking about? Why should I go back to the village with you? I will not be anyone's prisoner. I'll fight to the death first!" Zabuza began to reach for his sword.

"Not as a prisoner. As one of us!" Zabuza looked surprised. Haku also couldn't hide the emotion from his face. Guy began to explain Lee's plan to them.

"You mean, we could really be the Shinobi of a village?" Haku whispered in awe.

"That's right! The Hokage is a kind man. He'd agree to the plan in no time. It'd be easy to make it look true." A smile broke onto Haku's face. This was like a dream come true. He turned to Zabuza in excitement only to have his hopes dashed. Zabuza did not look pleased with the idea.

"What makes you think I want to join your village? I have a dream to become the Mizukage! I can't do that if I'm part of Konoha!" Haku was right. Zabuza was not pleased. Not one bit.

"There are ways around that. We may not be in an alliance with Kiri right now, but it won't be that way forever. Someday, there is bound to be a way to get you back there. For now, this gets you off the missing-nin list. You don't have to live in hiding!" Guy implored Zabuza to see his reason. "I am doing this for you!"

"You don't have to do anything for me! I've always been fine on my own! I don't need someone else now! I especially don't need an entire village!" Zabuza spat.

"What the hell is Haku to you then?" Naruto shouted this time. Zabuza had gone too far. "Isn't he your friend? Haven't you relied on him for years? How can you say you don't need anybody?"

"Haku is a tool, nothing more! What would you know?" Zabuza glared at him.

"You don't believe that and you know it! You have a kind side but you're just afraid of showing it! But I saw it yesterday! You helped me out when I was at my worst! It's thanks to you that I didn't make things worse!" Naruto panted from his outburst.

Zabuza was about to respond but Guy cut him off. "In the end of it all, you really were concerned about Haku. It had been you who bandaged his arm. It was you in finally fed him his food yesterday. He means something to you. Can't you see he wants to have a home? Can't you at least give him that?"

Zabuza didn't respond. He turned to look at Haku. For a minute Haku looked back at him but then looked away. "I am to be used as you see fit, Zabuza-san. I exist solely for fulfilling your dream. Nothing else." Zabuza closed his eyes. Those were the words Haku had said to him when they fled from Kiri. When they had lost their home.

"Well said, child. Okay, we'll go to Konoha." Haku spun around to look at him in surprise. "You need time to heal somewhere. Besides, they have numerous training grounds. You can become truly strong there and together we'll make my dream a reality."

Haku couldn't hide his huge smile.

* * *

After only a week of work the Shinobi had managed to complete the bridge. Having accomplished this task they now stood with their backpacks and gear, ready to depart the village. Zabuza and Haku didn't have much so the shirtless man was able to carry both of their stuff since Haku's arms were still broken. The group just had to wait for a couple more people before they departed.

"Hey!" They all turned at the sound of Tazuna's voice. The old man, Tsunami, and Inari were all walking up to the group, bags on each of their backs as well. "Sorry we took so long, thanks for waiting." Tazuna bowed to all the Shinobi.

Guy waved his apology off. "It is no problem, it takes time to prepare. Are you sure about this though? I know we offered but I never thought you would actually leave the country that has been your home for your whole life."

"Yeah, I finished this bridge for them. These ungrateful bastards are lucky I even did that. Far as I'm concerned it's good riddance." Tazuna patted Inari on the head before he continued speaking. "Besides, this place is full of nothing but sad memories for Inari. It'll do us all some good to make a fresh start."

"I'm glad to see you are resolute about your decision. I promise you will all enjoy yourselves in Konoha." Guy smiled happily at the family in front of him.

"Well then, let's get going!" Naruto turned and pointed down the bridge. "I can't wait to get home and show you around the village!"

"It wasn't too long ago and you couldn't wait to leave the village." Lee laughed at his friend as the group started moving down the long bridge.

"Hey, the mission is pretty much over. We got to get back so we can get another one." Naruto crossed his arms and attempted to look miffed.

"I think it'll be awhile before I'm ready to go on another C-rank mission. My heart isn't as full of youth as it used to be, it almost stopped so many times." Guy actually looked visibly sick from the thought of everything that had occurred over the past few weeks.

"If I was that type of guy, I would apologize to you for all the misfortune." Zabuza chuckled darkly.

"You never know, hanging around with this group might change you faster than you think." Tazuna couldn't describe the feeling he had right now. If he had to guess, he'd say he felt younger than he had in a long time. Like some hard burden had just been lifted from his shoulders. Regardless of what it was, it was incredible, and he owed it all to the Shinobi he walked beside now.

"Say, Tazuna-san." The old bridge-builder was pulled from his reflection by Haku's soft voice. "I was wondering, since we finished this bridge, shouldn't we give it a name?"

"You didn't notice, we already named it?" It was Inari who spoke up for Tazuna instead. "We'll see the sign for it when we reach the other end."

"Oh, I didn't notice. What is it called?" Haku sounded surprised that they were already ahead of him.

"Well, I tell you, at first I had a hard time thinking up a suitable name." Tazuna had been waiting for an opportunity to give this speech. "But then I got thinking about how we came to be able to complete it. It was thanks to the fact that two group of enemy ninja teamed up. It was by bonding and working together that in the end we were all able to accomplish my dream." Tazuna looked down at Naruto and Hinata who were holding hands as they walked down the bridge. "The bridge that connected not just two countries, but two groups of people." Tazuna wiped the tears from his eyes.

"The Great Bridge of Unity."


	11. Mission Complete

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_Mission Complete  
_

* * *

"So let me get this straight," The Sandaime Hokage said as he lay his pipe down on the table. "You want me to forge a whole slew of documents about how we hired an ex-Kiri Shinobi and his student, who nearly killed you may I add, just so we can get them into our village as our own and avoid a war with Kirigakure?"

"Yes, that is a most youthful explanation, Hokage-sama!" Zabuza wanted to slap himself in the face. The only reason he didn't was the urge to slap Might Guy in the face was much more powerful at the moment. Too bad he wouldn't be winning any favors by doing that. Not that he seemed to have a chance in hell to begin with.

"Okay, that shouldn't be too difficult." Zabuza's jaw would've hit the ground if his face wasn't wrapped in its usual bandage. "Now, to work out where-"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Zabuza waved his arms frantically. The Hokage stopped and took him into regard. "Just like that? Did you even listen to yourself? Did you even listen to him?" Zabuza gestured broadly at Guy. "How could you possibly accept us just like that?"

The Hokage fiddled with his pipe as he thought how to answer Zabuza's questions. "You clearly are not bad people. Misguided? Yes, but not bad. I think you could learn a lot from Konoha, and a lot from this team." The Sandaime gestured to the four Konoha Shinobi in front of him.

Zabuza glanced briefly at the green team. He then stole a glance at Haku. The boy seemed to be trembling from excitement. Zabuza had to restrain a sigh. He bowed to the old man. "We are in your debt, Hokage-sama."

The Hokage laughed. "No, no, none of that debt stuff. Instead let us focus on things such as your Shinobi ranks. I think jonin and genin would work out for you two?" The Hokage gestured to Zabuza and Haku respectively.

Zabuza's mind froze for a second. Jonin? Already? He couldn't really complain, but still, the Hokage was a truly lenient man. "That'd be excellent, Hokage-sama."

"Good." The Hokage reached into his drawer and pulled out two headbands. "One for each of you." Zabuza stepped up and took them both without pause. Haku's arms were still broken so he couldn't grab his himself. Zabuza then stepped forward and wrapped the headband around Haku's head before putting his own on.

"Thank you, Zabuza-san, Hokage-sama!" Haku bowed deeply to each of them. The Hokage just laughed again.

"One more thing, here is your pay for an A-rank mission." The Sandaime handed Zabuza a slip filled with money. "A job well done."

"Thank you very much." Zabuza and Haku stepped back in line with the rest of the group.

"Well then, now that that is settled, we'll move onto a more serious matter. Even though, I can forge the documents and you two will be Konoha shinobi, the council won't simply hand you their trust. Therefore, I am immediately assigning Team Guy another C-rank mission." Naruto's ears perked up at this. "I want you guys to watch over Momochi Zabuza and his student, Haku. You are to show them around town, help them get adjusted, and make sure they are welcomed to our village as comrades. This will be considered a long term mission, you will receive a weekly allowance for it, and naturally won't need to do any other missions while on this one."

Naruto almost shouted out at this. However, he managed to restrain himself. Not something that was missed by anyone present. The Hokage smiled slightly. Apparently, this mission had served to humble the hyperactive boy a little. "Now, to work out where the two of you shall live. Normally, I would suggest you live with Might Guy-"

"Rejected." Zabuza said flatly. "I would rather chop my head off with my own sword. Anyone but him." If Guy was offended, he hid it very well. In fact, he wore the same eerie smile he had since the Hokage had agreed to make them comrades.

"I figured you would say as much, however, I insist that you live with your escorts. Hinata's family would never allow it, and to my understanding, Lee lives in the room next to his sensei now, is that correct?"

Lee saluted when the Hokage addressed him. "Yes, Hokage-sama! Guy-sensei's willingness to buy me a room and get me out of the orphanage still brings happiness to my heart today!"

The Hokage nodded. "That just leaves Naruto." Zabuza turned and looked at the little blond runt. He then looked back to Guy.

"Okay, we'll take him." Zabuza reluctantly pointed to Naruto. Said blond runt had a look of complete shock on his face.

"I'm going to have roommates?" The awe that leaked out of his face made everyone feel slightly sick. Everyone in the room was now aware of his prisoner and the treatment he had receive because of it. Zabuza couldn't believe it at first himself. That such a powerful force lived inside such a small boys body. Yet here it was, right in front of him.

"This is awesome!" Naruto's shout for joy pulled Zabuza from his thoughts. "I can't wait to show you guys to your new room. This is going to be so much fun! We gotta get Ichiraku's to celebrate."

"Yes! I will join you in this celebration!" Lee pumped his fist in the air. "I must let my sweet Ayame know that I have returned in one piece!"

"What in the devil is Ichiraku?" Zabuza rubbed his temple. He was already getting a headache.

"You don't know what Ichiraku's is? It's only the best ramen in the whole world!" Naruto waved his arms in a big circle. "It's settled, we're leaving right now, come on Hinata!" Naruto grabbed her hand and started to walk out.

"Actually," The Hokage's voice stopped him in his tracks. "I have to talk with you and your sensei yet. The others can wait for you at the base of the tower. Don't worry," The Hokage took notice of the concern on all their faces. "It won't be more than a few minutes. Just a couple small details about the mission." It didn't take anyone more than a second to figure what the Hokage meant by "small details".

"Alright, we'll catch up to you guys in a few!" Naruto felt Hinata give his hand a tight squeeze and he smiled reassuringly at her in response. "Just a few minutes." He repeated. Hinata nodded, let go of his hand, and started out of the room. Haku and Zabuza followed her. Lee gave a last look at his sensei and best friend, before he too left and closed the door behind him.

The Hokage squiggled something down on a piece of paper quickly. He then beckoned Naruto closer. "What's this letter?" Naruto examined it curiously.

"You are to open that later today, when you feel that you are at your most lost." The Hokage smiled at him

"Most lost? What are you rambling about now?" Naruto put the letter in his pants pocket.

"You'll know, trust me. Now, onto serious matters." The Hokage folded his arms in front of himself.

"Oh yeah, so what's the big deal old man? You want to tell me about how awesome I did on the mission?" Naruto put his arms behind his head and smiled big at his grandfather figure.

"Naruto, drop the act. You know why I asked you to stay." Naruto's arms slowly lowered to his side and his big smiled dropped almost instantly.

"I don't see why you all insist on talking about this. I only spoke with it. It wasn't even serious. He just insulted me the whole time." Naruto was referring to the Kyuubi no Yoko which he had met inside his subconscious.

"Are you sure that is all? Did it offer you anything? Such as its power?" The Hokage's face was grave as he spoke. He was taking no chances where the fox was concerned.

"No, I asked why he didn't lend me any, but the only thing he tried to get me to do with rip off the seal." The Hokage leaned back in his chair and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Listen to me, Naruto. You must never use the foxes power. The more of it you use the looser your seal could get. There is no telling what could happen." The Hokage said sternly.

"I don't see the problem." The Hokage and Guy were both taken aback by Naruto's response. "The fox is a part of me, no matter how much I want to deny it. A trip through the village confirms that. I should learn how to use it. That bastard owes me rent." Silence followed Naruto's blunt demand. It took the Hokage a few seconds to gather his wits, although, he managed to keep his face in complete control the whole time. No one would have even known what Naruto said had surprised him.

"And what do you plan to do with this power?" The Hokage finally asked.

"I'd use it to become Hokage and gain their respect." Naruto said firmly.

"And what if the fox takes over your mind? What then?" The Hokage had to keep himself from shouting.

"I won't let it happen!" Naruto didn't bother to restrain himself. "If it's a clash of wills, I'll come out on top every time! There's no way that fox will beat me!"

"Guy, talk to your student!" The Hokage turned the spandex-clad ninja. The man was rubbing his chin thoughtfully. He finally seemed to decide on something.

"I say we let him do it." The Sandaime's eyes widened just a fraction. "Don't get me wrong, I know the Kyuubi is very dangerous, but Naruto brings up some good points. It is a part of him. No matter what, that is a fact. I cannot rightfully tell my student not to use a power like that when I have taught the Hachimon, also a forbidden power, to another one of my students. Finally, I have faith in Naruto. His youth will always surpass the fox's, of that I have no doubt." Guy gave the Hokage his best reassuring smile.

"Guy-sensei…" Naruto felt tears start to fall. No one had ever had so much faith in him before.

The Hokage felt older now than he had in a long time. He leaned back heavily in his chair. "Do you even have any idea how to learn to control the fox, Naruto?"

Realization suddenly dawned on his eyes. "Well, I was hoping you guys would know…"

The Sandaime looked to Guy. "I have no idea, Hokage-sama."

You two are most fortunate. I happen to have a man in the village who can train Naruto. Since your team is no longer doing missions, I want Naruto to report here at noon tomorrow. I will have the man here. You are both dismissed. Send in Tazuna-san and his family next and we will work on getting them a place to stay and a steady job."

Guy bowed low and Naruto mimicked the action for the first time in his life. "Thank you, Hokage-sama." They both said together. They then turned and walked out.

"Tazuna You're good to go. I'll get the details of where you are staying from Hokage-sama later and we can go out to eat." Guy patted the elder man on the shoulder and rubbed Inari's hair.

"Thank you for everything. I'll see you guys later then." Tazuna, Tsunami and Inari walked into the Hokage's office

Once they were inside, Naruto turned to his sensei and bowed deeply. "Thank you, Guy-sensei, for your faith in me." Guy waved the bow off.

"It is a teacher's job to have faith in their students. Now let's go meet up with everyone else!" Guy was back to his boisterous self again.

"Yeah!" Naruto and Guy began to descend down the steps of the Hokage tower. Soon they were stepping outside into the bright Konoha sun. The good weather was the last thing Naruto was paying attention to though. They saw their group, however Neji and Sasuke were there too. Naruto felt his blood run cold.

"Hey, what are you guys doing here?" Naruto growled at the two of them as he walked up. Neji peered over at him with a bored expression. Sasuke appeared to almost mimic him.

"We were just leaving actually, come on, Hinata-sama." Neji replied coldly. He turned and began to walk away. He didn't even look to see if Hinata was following.

Hinata bowed quickly to her group. "Sorry, but I must go." She turned to run after Neji but Naruto grabbed her hand.

"Wait a second! Why the heck do you have to leave?" He asked in little less than a yell. "We were all going to eat together."

"What business of it is yours?" Neji had stopped walking but hadn't turned around.

"It is my business, I happen to be her boyfriend! Now stay out of this!" Hinata turned a horrified gaze to Neji

"Naruto-kun, not now, please." She whispered frantically. "Father heard about Zabuza and Haku being with our team. He wants to discuss the mission with me."

"Boyfriend, huh?" Naruto watched Hinata visibly flinch. "I can't wait to here what Hiashi-sama thinks about that one." Neji then continued to walk, Sasuke on his heel.

"Naruto-kun, we'll hang out later today, I promise." Hinata said again as he let go of her hand and took off after Neji. Naruto watched them go miserably. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked to see it was his sensei's.

"I'm going to go with her. I won't let anything happen to her, don't you worry, Naruto." Guy gave him his nice-guy pose.

Naruto smiled up at him. "Thank you, sensei."

"No Problem!" Guy vanished as soon as he said those words.

Haku whistled. "I am always surprised by that man's speed. It is no wonder you outclassed me, Lee-san."

"Yes! Guy-sensei is an incredible man and I am most proud to say that some of his youthful spirit has rubbed off on me as well!" Haku and Zabuza took a couple steps back away from the shouting youth. "So, shall we get going to Ichiraku's to celebrate our miraculous return?" Lee turned to Naruto who was still staring off the way Hinata had gone. "Naruto?" Lee placed his hand on the blond's shoulder.

"Huh?" Naruto shook his head and turned to his teammate.

"Ichiraku." Lee repeated calmly.

"Oh yeah, let's go!" Naruto turned around and started to walk but he stopped again. "Uh…Zabuza?"

"Hmm…what is it?" Zabuza had sat quietly through the whole exchange that had gone on. He would never admit it, but he kind of wanted to split that older Hyuuga kid in half with his sword. It sucked that he was supposed to be making friends with these people.

"Well…it wasn't all that big a deal before, but if you're going to be living in this village, maybe you should buy a shirt." Naruto kicked his feet around nervously. "I mean, all the villagers are staring at us, and for once, it's not to glare at me."

Zabuza looked around. Sure enough, about everyone that was within sight on the street was staring at them. Well, just at him. He let out a big sigh. "Well, we did just get paid for an A-rank mission. Where's the nearest clothing store to here?"

* * *

Guy had only ever been inside the Hyuuga compound a couple of times, but this would be the first he had ever been this far in. He would normally like to look around curiously, but with so many curious Byakugan eyes trained on him, he figured it would be better to just keep his head straight and his head held high. He walked just a couple paces behind his student. Neji and Sasuke had not entered and instead went to meet up with their team. Hinata stopped in front of a pair of big sliding doors. Guy stopped just behind her.

Hinata cleared her throat. "Father, I am here to see you, as requested." Guy easily picked up on the anxiety in her voice.

"Yes, however, I see you brought another person here with you." Said a cold voice that could only have been Hinata's father from the other side of the door. Guy couldn't be sure, but he bet that her father had his Byakugan active at that very moment.

Guy thought about answering but Hinata beat him to it. "Yes, this is Guy-sensei. He insisted that he accompany me."

"Very well, you may both enter." Hinata bowed and Guy mimicked the action. You couldn't be too sure if he was watching or not. Then, Hinata opened the door and walked in. Guy of course followed. Once inside, Hinata closed the door behind them and then she went and sat down on the floor in front of her father. Guy paused for the slightest of seconds to take everything in. Hiashi was sitting at the far end of the room. Only a small pillow was between himself and the floor. There was a long, slim table in front of himself. At the other end were two pillows, one which Hinata currently occupied. Guy wasted no time in taking the other one.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Guy-san. I hope Hinata has not disappointed you too much?" Guy wasn't sure what he asked was posed as a question or not but he figured he would answer regardless.

"The pleasure is all mine, Hiashi-sama. Hinata has been anything but a disappointment. She has progressed quite well in everything I have instructed of her." Guy kept his voice low and level. There was no fluctuating emotion seeping through.

"I would be interested in hearing of this progression later on in the conversation, but for now, I am most curious as to why my daughter was seen walking into the village with an A-ranked missing ninja from Kirigakure. I had intended to ask her, but I trust you would be able to supply me with a suitable answer." Guy almost stole a quick glance at his student. However, he doubted the action would have been missed and chose not to.

"Yes, you see, Hokage-sama hired Zabuza-san and his student to infiltrate a nefarious business man's corrupt guard. My team was then hired to help draw this man out and assassinate him. We completed our mission and were ordered to return with Zabuza-san and Haku-san." Guy told the story he had been rehearsing. He just wished its first test didn't have to be on a master at seeing through deception.

"I see, so the plan went through without a hitch, if I may ask, what role did my daughter play in this assassination?" If Hiashi knew he was lying, he didn't show it. All the same, his latest question caused Guy to flinch. He wasn't sure how the man would take to the news of his daughter having been the assassin.

"Well, I don't know how else to say this, but Hinata was the one who ended up carrying out the deed." Guy answered with bated breath. To his surprise, he saw Hiashi's surprise.

"Surely you jest. My daughter killed someone? How could it have come down to that with two Jonin there?" Hiashi's voice did not display his surprise.

"Well, things got a little frantic." Guy was starting to sweat. He really hated these kind of meetings. "Gatou appeared with an entire army of armed guards, we believe he saw through our deception and planned to have us all killed."

"And Hinata got through this army and killed…wait did you say Gatou?" Guy wanted to bite his tongue out. He really slipped up now by using his name. "As in one of the richest men in the world Gatou? You expect me to believe my daughter, who has displayed no talent in our art, fought her way through a miniature army and killed one of the most powerful individuals on the continent?"

"Like I already said, things got complicated." Guy was really starting to feel himself panic. "Zabuza-san and I were about to begin our attack but Hinata just kind of charged in."

"Again, you speak foolishness, what would have possibly got this timid girl to charge into an army of men by herself, and what kept you from stopping her?" This was not going how Guy had hoped, he was digging himself a bigger hole with each passing sentence. It almost seemed like the clan head was toying with him. Like he knew he was lying from the beginning.

"I thought they had killed Naruto-kun." Guy didn't stop himself from glancing to his student this time. He quickly looked back and was thankful to see Hiashi was also looking at her.

"Killed him? What do you mean?" Hiashi's questions were now poised to Hinata. Guy almost let out a sigh of relief but quickly caught himself. Even the slightest movement could bring the man's gaze back to him. He needed to use this time to regain his thoughts.

"Zabuza-san, Haku-san, and Guy-sensei were the only ones who knew about the mission. They felt if we knew we would be likely to give it away, since we are inexperienced. They made it look realistic by putting Naruto-kun in a death-like state. I was fooled by it and out of anger, I attacked." Guy couldn't help but be impressed by her quick wit. Naruto was rubbing off on his team more than he expected.

"Anger, you say? That commoner's well-being made you angry enough to take a man's life?" Guy suddenly had a feeling Hinata was about to say something she was going to regret.

"Yes, it did. Because I love him, father." Guy hated being right.

Hiashi's surprise quickly turned to anger as he slammed his hand on the table in front of himself. "Love him…no, that's not right, I forbid it!"

"I won't let you!" Hinata screamed. "Being with him has made me stronger than I ever thought I could be! I'll spar you to prove it!" Hinata stood up to show how serious she was.

"Spar? Against me?" Hiashi had an incredulous look on his face. "You should know your place. When I've put you down I will have your team switched immediately." He promptly stood up and walked out of the room. Hinata followed him without being told. Guy sat there for a minute, his brain trying to catch up with what had just happened. There was only one thing he knew for sure at that moment.

He really hated being right.

* * *

Hiashi and Hinata.

Father and daughter.

The two now stood facing each other in the family dojo. Guy stood in the room as well with a multitude of other branch family members who were looking on with curiosity. Hinata's younger sister was also in the room. She had a pained look on her face as she watched her older sister and father get ready to have a more than unfriendly spar.

"If I win, you have to promise me that I can date Naruto-kun, you must also let me remain on my team." Hinata broke the uneasy silence in the room.

"You really think you can win? I will admit that you have changed, daughter, but confidence without the strength to back it up is foolishness." Hiashi activated his Byakugan and settled into his perfected Jyuuken stance.

"I am confident because I know Naruto-kun believes in me!" Hinata's Byakugan activated and she charged her father without even waiting for the signal. She closed the gap in no time and struck at him. Hiashi stepped slightly sideways to avoid the attack. He then brought his foot in between Hinata's legs and quickly pulled back. The result sent Hinata stumbling forward, right into Hiashi's waiting palm. He struck her hard in the stomach and sent her crashing painfully to the floor a few feet away.

"Like I said, confidence without power is foolish. Stay down and reflect on what has happened here." Hiashi turned to walk away.

"You're the foolish one, father." Hinata said as she stumbled to her feet. "If you think that one blow is enough to keep me down, that is." Hiashi spun around to face his daughter. He had not expected that. A month ago and that blow would have put his daughter down for sure. This might just be interesting after all. Hiashi settled back into his Jyuuken stance.

"Come!" He ordered. Hinata didn't even think twice about obeying. She charged in again and delivered the same strike as last time. "That won't work!" Hiashi avoided the move and stepped his foot in again.

"Neither will your move!" Hinata pivoted and spun on her back foot causing Hiashi's backwards motion to meet only air. Hinata continued her spin and brought her raised leg around in a powerful spinning kick. Hiashi quickly raised his forearm and blocked the blow. He was not prepared for the surge of pain he got from the block.

"What trick is this?" Hiashi rose his other arm up and pulled Hinata's pant cuff up slightly. Underneath he was shocked to find an assortment of training weights. Not light ones either.

"It isn't a trick. It is testament of my determination!" Hiashi released his hold on her leg and they both jumped backwards. She then bent down and unclipped her weights. "I hope you are ready to experience the full power of my youth, father!" Guy was flattered that she was finally picking up his philosophy. He just wondered why it couldn't have waited just another day.

"What nonsense are you speaking?" Hiashi lowered his guard just slightly. His eyes did nothing to hide his confusion or growing anger. Just then his daughter vanished. He ducked just as Hinata's leg passed over his head.

"It's not nonsense!" Hiashi quickly spun and struck at Hinata only for her to vanish again. "It's my resolve to win!" Hiashi rolled sideways to avoid Hinata's next Jyuuken strike. He completed his roll quickly and settled back into his stance. He needn't have hurried though. Hinata stood there, calmly facing him.

"You have gotten stronger daughter. But it has led to too much confidence. You made a big mistake. You are now within range of my divination." Hiashi's stance shifted and Hinata's eyes grew wide. "Hakke Rokujuyon Sho!" Hiashi hadn't wanted to resort to this, but if speed was all his daughter had to show, then he was no longer interested in continuing this fight. He launched himself at Hinata and only too late noticed the smirk that had grown on her face. Hinata changed her stance and then begun spinning quickly.

"Impossible!" Hiashi was too close to stop his attack and his first two strikes flew towards Hinata. But they never found their mark. His hands were stopped by an invisible barrier, not a second later and Hiashi was blasted off his feet and flung across the room. He landed hard on his back. He quickly rolled onto his stomach and began to get to his feet. "The Hakkesho Kaiten!" He gasped. "But when did you learn that?"

"Not only that but the Juho Soshiken as well!" Hiashi's eyes widened as he quickly rolled out of the way again. His daughter had appeared in front of him, her hands engulfed in blue chakra in the shape of a lions. She struck the ground where he had been just a moment ago, causing the wood floor to completely shatter. Hiashi landed on his feet and quickly settled into his stance. It was a pointless gesture though. There was no way he was going to risk a counter attack while Hinata had that technique active.

Hinata charged at him and unleashed a furious barrage of punches. Hiashi ducked and weaved his way through everyone of them with increasing difficulty. Finally he watched them start to simmer out. He took this opportunity to knock her latest fist away. Hinata stumbled back from the blow and Hiashi closed in. He never noticed the seemly weakening jutsu suddenly increase to an intensity bigger than before. He did feel Hinata's enhanced fist connected painfully with his gut, doubling him over and knocking him off of his feet.

Hiashi, for the second time in one match was sent down onto the floor on his back. He groaned and slowly rose to his knees. He suddenly bent over and coughed up a heap of blood. He looked up wearily to see his daughter's jutsu had deactivated and she was now leaned over and panting heavily. Her Byakugan was also off now as well.

"It would appear that move has exhausted your chakra." Hiashi finally got back to his feet. "That means this fight is as good as over!" He charged at her again, his Jyuuken poised to strike. Hinata dropped to the floor and spun her leg in a powerful sweep. Hiashi stopped fast and jumped over it. Hinata turned her body and sent her other foot upwards, catching Hiashi painfully in the chin with the her heel. The Hyuuga clan head landed painfully on his feet a few feet away as his daughter spun around to face him and settled into a Goken stance.

"I will continue to fight, chakra or no chakra, I cannot afford to lose." Hinata charged at her father and delivered a punch. Hiashi dodged and returned with a Jyuuken. Hinata brought her elbow up and deflected it to the side, sending the chakra blast pointlessly into the air. Hinata then spun around and delivered a powerful backwards fist.

"You'd go so far for this boy, yet do you really know anything about him?" Hiashi ducked under her fist and swung at Hinata from down low. Hinata spun out of the way and brought her leg up in a chamber kick. Hiashi went to meet it with a Jyuuken strike. Hinata stopped mid-spin and then spun the other way.

"I know everything about him, even about the context of the law." Hiashi was caught off-guard and Hinata's reverse kick nailed him in the middle of the back. He stumbled forward. Hinata jumped in the air and aimed another spinning kicked at his head.

"Hakkesho Kaiten!" Hinata was blown backwards and landed painfully on the ground. "You know this and yet you still wish to be with him?" Hiashi spun to face his daughter. "I don't understand. Why? If you know, then you must know the risk he poses!" Hinata chuckled at his question.

"Why?" She asked as she stumbled to her feet. "Perhaps for the same reason you chose mother." Hiashi's eyes widened. "I know all about how you had to fight the entire Hyuuga council to get them to accept her. You broke a lot of rules and nearly lost your place as the clan head. But you did it anyways. Maybe my reason is the same!" Hinata roared and charged at her father again. Just before she got to him she stumbled from her exhaustion. Hiashi took the opportunity and nailed her straight in the jaw. Hinata's body arced high into the air and then crashed down onto the ground in a crumbled heap. Just like that, in a single instant, the match was over.

"You don't know anything about that." Hiashi whispered more to himself. He stared down at his now unconscious daughter. "Guy-san!" Hiashi called without turning his gaze.

"Yes!" Guy stepped forward, his eyes wouldn't move from his unconscious student.

"Where did Hinata learn those moves? They are far too advanced for her." Guy's eyes finally focused on the man who was speaking.

"Too advanced? Did you see the way she executed them? They were both flawless! You should be proud!" Guy gestured towards the man's unconscious daughter.

"I asked where she learned them!" Hiashi said coldly.

"I taught them to her. It is my job as a teacher to teach her everything I believe she is capable of." Hiashi nodded his head.

"I see, I had told her I would remove her from the team." Guy opened his mouth to protest. "But I have changed my mind. The improvement she has shown here is beyond anything I have ever dreamed possible. Keep up the good work." With that, Hiashi turned to walk out of the room.

"Wait!" Hiashi stopped. "What about Naruto? You will allow her to see him, right?" Guy wasn't sure why he was asking such a question. He figured he owed it to his student who had tried so hard.

"Hmm…yes, Uzumaki Naruto. Send him here to meet me. I would like to talk to him myself." Guy's mouth fell open. "Your presence won't be necessary this time. I will be sure my daughter is on time for your typical meeting time tomorrow." Hiashi walked out of the room before Guy was able to say another thing. He looked quietly back to his young student. Her younger sister was now leaning over her. She appeared to be trying to rouse her.

"I'm sorry, Naruto. I didn't keep my promise to you."

* * *

"Man that really hit the spot!" Naruto shouted as he walked down the street that led to his apartment.

"It was quite good. It seems like it has been forever since we had food from a restaurant, wouldn't you agree. Zabuza-san?" Haku smiled brightly. It was all he could do to contain the excitement from going to the place he would soon call home.

"It was alright. Better than I thought anyways." Zabuza praised lightly. He now wore a navy blue, sleeveless jacket. It had the red swirl on the back. He still carried his huge sword on his back, so naturally, everyone was still staring at him. At least it wasn't at his pecks anymore.

"Alright! Up these stairs and we'll be here!" The excitement was boiling up inside Naruto as he walked up the steps, led them down the hall, took out his keys, and opened the door to his room. "This is it!" Naruto said proudly as he walked in and spread his arms in front of himself.

"This is it?" Naruto picked up on the disappointment in Zabuza's voice.

"Hey, I know it's not much but it's not that bad!"

"Not that bad? There are ramen cups everywhere. My sword is scraping against the damn roof. It looks like there is only a kitchen, one bedroom, and one bathroom. Where are we supposed to sleep in this dinky hellhole?"

"If you're gonna be that way you can just sleep with Guy-sensei!" Zabuza shivered slightly. He then took another look around. Suddenly a brilliant idea came to him.

"Yeah, you're right, this might not be so bad, after all." Zabuza said walking into the house. He strolled straight for the kitchen.

"See, that's the spirit!" Naruto nodded happily, oblivious to Zabuza as he examined his kitchen wall.

"Hey, runt! On the other side of this wall is the apartment next door, right?" Zabuza poked the wall with his finger.

"Huh? Yeah, I guess so, no one lives there though. You know, no one wanted to live in the room next to the demon brat." Naruto now looked at Zabuza curiously.

"Really, that's perfect!" A devious smile that was masked beneath his bandages appeared on his face.

"Why do you ask?" Naruto wasn't sure what happened. One second, Zabuza's sword was on his back on the wall was up, the next his sword was gone and so was the wall.

"Yeah! This'll do just nicely! Zabuza stepped into the other room. "Now we got two of everything!"

"Gahhhhh! What the hell, Zabuza? You can't just go breaking down walls! Who the hell is supposed to pay for that? What am I going to do? This isn't right! I'm so lost now!" Wait, lost? Didn't the old man mention something about being lost. Naruto quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out the letter. He flipped it open and began reading furiously.

_Naruto,_

_I assume that if you are reading this that you are just ignoring my instructions and being nosy…or Zabuza has broken down the wall between your apartment and the one over. If that is the case I will have already taken the liberty of having let the complex owner know that there is someone who has moved into that room. I hope the three of you are getting along well. _

_P.S. You'll need to buy more than just ramen now that you have other people in the house._

The letter slipped from Naruto's hand. He made a mental note never to underestimate the Hokage again. Ever. Haku noticed the note and he bent over to read it. As he read it he began to chuckle.

"Hokage-sama sure is an intuitive man." Haku motioned for Zabuza to come over and read the letter. Naruto meanwhile went to his couch and slumped down. At least things were working out this way, right?

A sudden knock on the door brought Naruto to his feet. He answered the door and was surprised to see a winded Guy there. "Guy-sensei, what's up? Why do you look panicked?"

"Naruto, it's urgent!" Guy placed his hands on his students shoulders. "You have to-what happened to your wall?" Guy took notice of it as Zabuza walked back into Naruto's side of the apartment.

"Ah, Might Guy! Do you like my addition to the room? I could be a designer if I wanted to, don't you think?" Zabuza laughed maliciously as he stepped back over into the other side.

"Right, never mind! Naruto!"

"Still here, Guy-sensei. I can't go anywhere with your hands on my shoulders." Naruto shrugged his shoulders for emphasize.

"No time for jokes! Hinata took on her father in a sparring match and now he wants to talk to you!" Naruto stared at his sensei for a split second. Guy took notice as all the emotions ran across his face. First confusion, followed by realization, followed by anger, followed by more confusion, and then replaced again with anger.

"If that bastard hurt her I'll rip his throat out with my teeth!" Naruto pushed passed his sensei and started walking down the walkway. Instead of trying to stop him, Guy walked with him.

"Listen, Naruto! Hinata is the one who challenged him to the spar." Guy kept up easily with Naruto's brisk pace.

"Why would she do that?" Naruto asked, still angry.

"He told her she couldn't love you and she went off the wall. She fought well and surprised him quite a bit. I think he wants to judge you. You can't go in there angry!" Naruto came to an instant halt. Guy had no trouble matching him.

"Can't go in angry? How can I not be angry? That bastard doesn't even deserve to be called a father!" Naruto spun on his sensei.

"I know Naruto, but you didn't see what I did. If you go in there angry you won't be helping Hinata. You have to think calmly, for her sake!" Naruto was visibly shaking from all the emotions he was feeling. After a few deep breaths, he was able to work himself down.

"You said he wants to judge me, what do you mean?" Naruto finally asked. Guy smiled brightly at Naruto's control over himself.

"Hinata showed him things he didn't expect. She said her determination comes from you. I think he is considering letting her see you romantically based on that. Anything to help her improve. But if you go in there, wild and destructive, you will destroy any chance."

Naruto took everything Guy said in slowly. He finally nodded a couple times. "Okay, I think I know what to do now. Let's go Guy-sensei!" Naruto turned to start moving again.

"He doesn't want me there this time. I'm sorry, but you're on your own for this one Naruto." Naruto looked at him in disbelief. He then nodded his head slowly.

"Like I said, I got this!" Naruto then started running off down the street. Guy hoped Naruto really did have it.

"I guess I should go take Haku to the hospital to have his arms looked at. The I have to meet up with Tazuna like I promised" Guy was about to turn back to Naruto's apartment but he saw Naruto running backwards towards him.

Naruto appeared next to his sensei again. "I forgot how to get to the Hyuuga compound." Guy sighed. Naruto's chances were dwindling already.

* * *

Hiashi sat quietly in the room he had been in before the interruption. He stared quietly at a picture of himself and his beloved deceased wife. Things had changed so much for him when she had perished while on a mission. He hated even thinking about it at this point anymore. Had Hinata turned out more like him than he thought? She was clearly willing to fight the whole clan for this boy. Challenging him was proof enough of that.

Hiashi sighed. Just as he did a voice called out to him. "Hiashi-sama. Uzumaki-san is here to see you."

Hiashi quickly slid the picture into the folds of his robes. "Send him in." Hiashi masked all his emotions. He had to appear stern as usual. The door opened and the blond walked in nervously. The door sliding shut behind him made him just slightly. The blond walked up and sat down on the pillow directly in front of Hiashi.

"You look angry, is there something you want to say to me?" The Hyuuga head thought it would be best to test his temper. See how he would really was. It wouldn't surprise him if Guy warned him about watching his anger.

"You're damn right there is!" As expected, if Naruto had been warned about it, he threw all those words to the side. "You think it's okay to just treat Hinata that way? I should kick your ass right here for that! I have it half in mind just to leave this place right now and take her with me! You can bet that when I'm Hokage you'll be number one on my shit-list for treating her that way!"

Hiashi stared ominously at Naruto for a solid minute. Everything Naruto had said slowly processed through his head. Then he felt his lip twitched slightly. Suddenly his mouth curled into a smile. The next thing Hiashi knew and he was laughing, hard. t had been forever since he had done something like that.

"What the hell? You don't think I'm serious! I will be Hokage and Hinata'll be the head of this clan!" Naruto pointed a vengeful finger at the man who sat across from him.

Hiashi's laughter slowly died down. "I'm sorry for that. It's just been a long time since anyone has spoke to me that way. First, my daughter tells me off, and now her little boyfriend does too. This truly is a surprising day. Yes, I think you'll do just fine." Hiashi had planned on accepting him from the beginning. Anything to help his daughter improve further and become the clan head like she was supposed to be.

"Just fine?" Naruto pulled his finger back. "What'd'ya mean?"

"I mean I think a future Hokage would be an apt choice for my daughter's boyfriend." Hiashi smiled at him.

"Oh…uh…thanks, I guess." Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Hey, wait a second, I had more to say!" Naruto pointed at him again.

"Yes, if you must take my daughter on a date tonight, I will have her sister show you to her room. Hanabi! You may come in now." Naruto spun around as a younger Hinata with long hair opened the door.

"Father." Hanabi bowed to him before she took a seat on the one side of Naruto. Naruto noticed her peek at him out of the corner of her eye every now on then.

"I would like you to look at this picture." Hiashi slid the picture over. Hanabi gasped as Naruto picked it up.

"Is this your mom?" Naruto asked as he held it more towards Hanabi. She only nodded slowly.

"She's really pretty. What clan was she from?" The most distinct thing Naruto noticed about her was the fact that she did not have the Byakugan. Instead she had beautiful, purple irises. He had always just assumed the clan married within itself.

"She is a Hyuuga." Naruto dropped the photo in surprise.

"But her eyes…"

"She is the first one in over a century to be born without our clans Kekkei Genkai." Hiashi looked sorrowfully at the picture. "It was the cause of many troubles."

"Troubles?" Naruto looked in confusion at the picture.

"As you know, we marry within our clan to keep the bloodline pure, however, because she did not have have our Kekkei Genkai, she was deemed unfit to be my bride." Hiashi picked the picture up and stared at it.

"But…you said she was Hinata's mom." Naruto looked between both of them in confusion.

"She is. I fought the clan and came out on top but not without consequence." Hiashi stared at his daughter. "When Hinata showed ineptitude for our clan's techniques, her mother was the one blamed. She was scorned by the rest of the clan for producing a weak heiress. I fear that it was this that eventually drove her to her death."

Things started to piece together for Naruto. "You blamed Hinata for her death…didn't you?"

"At first, yes. Lately though I have come to blame myself. When I found out my daughter loved you I didn't want you to be together because she may suffer the same fate as I." Hiashi looked back up at Naruto.

"After fighting her today I realized I was the one who was wrong and that she is more like me than I ever realized."

"Why are you telling me all this?" Naruto's anger was long forgotten. It was replaced by confusion now.

"Because you are the one she has chosen. The same way I chose my wife. I won't oppose you but know it won't be easy either. You have my respect Naruto-san." Hiashi bowed low to the blond. An act the Naruto awkwardly returned. "Now, Hanabi. Take him to your sister's room."

"Right away, father. This way, Naruto-san." Hanabi gestured for Naruto to follow her.

"Yeah, umm…right!" Naruto got up and followed after her. He wasn't sure how it happened, but he had ended up following that man's pace. A truly formidable opponent. He would have to try again another time.

The door was shut behind him and Hiashi was again left alone. "Hurry and become a man who can properly protect my daughter, Naruto-san. Protect her since I wasn't properly able to." Hiashi knew he was taking a risk mouthing that sentence out loud but he didn't care. He felt much better having said it.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the door, Hanabi was giving Naruto a strange look."Naruto-san…"

"Huh? Yeah, it was Hanabi, right?" Naruto asked nervously. He was never good with names.

"Yes, but, Naruto-san…" Hanabi looked away and didn't say anything for a minute.

"What's up?" Naruto got tired of waiting.

Hanabi didn't answer for another couple of seconds. "Naruto-san, you're incredible!" Hanabi was suddenly beaming at him.

"Thanks, I know!" Naruto puffed out his chest. "Umm…why exactly am I incredible?"

"I have never seen Hinata-nee-chan try so hard in her life. She was incredible when she sparred against father. Furthermore, I have never heard father laugh, not even once. For you to be able to get him to, you must really be something. Not only that, but I haven't even seen a picture of mom in forever. I had no idea he kept it on him. I had even forgotten what she looked like." Naruto felt an odd sense of pride swell up inside of himself at Hanabi continued to drone on. Apparently he had gotten a lot out of the clan head. Suddenly, they were at Hinata's door.

"Hinata-nee-chan!" Hanabi said as she knocked on the door.

"Go away, Hanabi-chan!" Hinata shouted. "Just leave me alone, I don't want to do anything right now!" Naruto grew worried. Hinata sounded really upset. He was about to call but Hanibi grabbed hold of his hand to get his attention. When she had it, she shook her head. So Naruto reluctantly remained quiet.

"But, Hinata-nee-chan, don't you want to see the surprise I brought you?" They heard some shuffling from in the room. Suddenly, they heard a gasp and footsteps as Hinata ran to the door. She swung it open.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata threw herself into him. Naruto was knocked backwards from the force but managed to stay on his feet.

"What is it with you and these forceful hugs? Can't I get an ordinary one for once?" Naruto joked as he returned to hug. Soon Hinata pulled back.

"I don't understand, did you sneak in here?" Hinata wiped away tears that had begun to leak from her eyes.

"Nah, your father asked for me to come. He said he approves of us dating, so it's okay." Naruto laughed at the look of surprise on Hinata's face.

"Come on, he said we can go on a date tonight. Bushy Brow and Ayame-nee-chan are probably going to be ready by the time we get there!" Naruto started to pull on Hinata's arm.

"A date?" Hinata asked, off in her own little world.

"Yeah, a double date. Come on!" Naruto pulled a little harder.

"Oh, one second!" Hinata pulled back, went into her room and closed the door.

"Wait, Hinata! What the heck is she doing?" Naruto scratched his head in confusion.

"She's changing of course. She can't go like she is." Naruto had forgotten Hanabi was there for a second.

"Well, why not?" Hanabi just looked at him like he was stupid.

* * *

"Sorry we're late!" Naruto called running up to his teammate and sister figure, Hinata was just behind him. "Whoa, Bushy Brow, what happened to your outfit?" Naruto stopped short to stare at his best friend. He no longer wore the spandex that was his and Guy's trademark. Instead he wore green shirts and a green t-shirt. The yellow leg warmers were still present to hold his weights in.

"Ayame-chan has insisted that I wear something different while out on dates! I will be back to my normal attire when we next meet!"

"Speaking of changing clothes, I see you didn't have the decency to do so. Look how pretty Hinata got for you. Aren't you ashamed of yourself?" Naruto flinched at his sister's harsh criticism. He wouldn't deny it though, Hinata definitely looked pretty good in normal clothes. Her bright blue, sleeveless shirt fit nicely over her slender frame and contrasted well with the slightly purple pants she wore. Naruto had admitted she was cute before, but this was now on a whole new level.

"Umm…I don't mind." Hinata blushed slightly as she spoke. She wasn't entirely comfortable with everyone's eyes on her just yet. "I am just happy to be going on a date with you all. I hope to make this a most youthful night."

"You're into that talk about youth too? I really am outnumbered now!" Ayame threw her hands up in defeat. "Anyways, we need to decide on where to eat." She looked over to Naruto and Lee purposely.

"How about-"

"Continue that sentence and I'll serve you cold ramen for the rest of your life." Naruto snapped his mouth shut.

"I know of an excellent restaurant a few blocks away! But we must hurry, soon only the bar is left open!" Lee grabbed Ayame's hand and started running off.

"Lee, wait! We've talked about you dragging me around like this!" Ayame yelled frantically as Lee nearly carried her off.

Naruto looked over to Hinata. "That looks oddly familiar, huh?"

"We should probably run to keep up with him, we don't know where they are going, after all." Naruto looked back in time to see Lee turning the corner.

"Last one there is a rotten egg!" Naruto bolted before Hinata had a chance to react.

"That's not fair Naruto-kun!" Hinata ran after him as soon as she realized what happened. They whipped around the corner and were quickly gaining on Lee. Hinata suddenly got an idea. "Naruto-kun, someone just dropped a bowl of ramen!" Naruto halted in his tracks and spun around, searching frantically for the source of such a dastardly deed. Hinata shot passed him and Naruto quickly realized he'd been duped.

Hinata barely beat Naruto to the building Lee was standing in front of. "You cheated!" Naruto shouted as he ran up to her.

Hinata responded by sticking her tongue out at him.

"You are all insane!" Ayame was still gasping for breath. "How can none of you even be winded?"

"Our flames burn far too brightly to be put out by such a light jog!" Lee roared. Naruto's stomach growled in response.

"Well my flames are telling me they need to be fed!" Naruto walked passed them into the restaurant. Hinata, and Lee walked in laughing with him. Ayame grumbled a little but had a grin on her face all the same.

Soon, the group was seated at a high table right next to the bar. "Hi there folks!" Said a waitress who came up to their table. "The name is Nene and I'll be your server tonight. What can I start you all off with to drink?"

"I'll have tea." Ayame said. The others all quickly followed her lead, ordering tea.

"Alright, four teas, I'll be right back with those and to take your orders." Nene turned around and ran smack into a customer with a glass of something in his hand. The man stumbled and dropped his drink all over the front of Nene's dress.

The man looked over at her sharply. He didn't say anything and just started walking back towards the bar. "Oh, I'm sorry!" Nene shouted after recovering her wits. The man ignored her. Nene shrugged and walked off, looking at her ruined dress the whole way.

"Great, looks like we got a newbie." Ayame mumbled. "How much you guys want to bet she brings us back the wrong drinks?"

"I am sure she will do just fine!" Lee said. "She just has to tap into her untamed youth!"

"What's that Bushy Brow, you disagreeing with Nee-chan?" Lee shook his head fiercely.

"I think she'll do just fine." Hinata said as she watched Nene walking back carefully with their drinks.

"Here you go, folks!" Nene set the tray of drinks on the table. Ayame peered at the drinks curiously. She noticed quickly that it wasn't tea they had.

"Yosh! Well done Nene-san!" Lee grabbed his drink and drank it all in a second.

"Lee wait, that's not tea!" Ayame shouted too late.

Nene looked down in confusion. "Oh, shoot, this sake was meant for the table next to you guys, my bad. Please don't tell on me! I can't get in trouble for selling to a minor!"

"Oh, schucks, we could not stay mad at someone as cute ash you Nene-san…" Lee gave a big hiccup. Everyone at the table quickly took note of Lee's slurred words and two big red spots on his cheeks.

"Bushy Brow, are you drunk?" Naruto started laughing. This was too much. "You hardly had anything!"

"What wash that, you picking on me, punk?" Naruto wasn't sure what happened. Lee had been on the other side of the table. The next thing he knew and Lee was under it and Naruto was flying from his chair. He landed painfully on his back. "That will show you." Hiccup.

Naruto slowly stood up. "Now that hurt, alright Bushy Brow, we need to get you out of here." Naruto cautiously stepped closer to his teammate. Just before he could he could set his hand on his shoulder Lee literally slithered away from his grasp.

"Oh, back for shome more I shee. I am abut to give you the thrashing of a lithetime." Lee suddenly launched himself at Naruto in the most peculiar angle Naruto had ever witnessed. The young blonde found it impossible to block the blow that nailed him. This time he crashed onto the bar, breaking several glasses. Ayame screamed as she watched it happen. The combined noise caused immediate panic from all those present and they immediately fled the restaurant, screaming the whole way.

"Lee, call down, please, you have to stop this!" Ayame ran up to Lee and pull at his arm.

"Shtop what, babe?" Lee grinned eerily at her. "I am just living my youth to the fullest! Are you not proud of me Guy-sensei?" Lee began spinning around with his arms up in the air.

Hinata was suddenly right next to him, Byakugan active, and her fingers posed to strike a knock-out point. Just before her blow connected, Lee bent completely backwards at a ninety degree angle. Hinata's strike missed. Lee then rolled over and slithered in between Hinata's legs and stood up erect behind her.

"Ish, that you Hinata? You want to dance?" Lee grabbed her hand and spun her around. Hinata spun for several seconds before she crashed into a table. "Opps." Hiccup. "I am shurprised you would want to dansh with me. I thought you liked Naruto." Lee let out a small giggle.

"That does it, I'm taking you out!" Four Naruto's shouted as they closed in on Lee from different sides.

"Oh, Naruto there thou are!" Lee switched to a handstand and spun around with his feet stretched out. He knocked each Naruto on the face and they all were sent crashing into a different part of the restaurant.

"Damn, I can't even get close to him like this!" One of the Naruto's growled as they all stood up.

"Yoshhh…Naruto, letsh have a mouth youthful sparing matsh." Hiccup. Lee was suddenly charging straight at one of the Narutos.

"Alright, that's enough!" A masked ninja with white hair that Naruto didn't recognize appeared behind Lee, his thumb already pressed on the pressure point on Lee's neck. Lee collapsed to a seemly boneless heap on the ground.

"Hmm…a natural born Suiken fighter, huh? Guy, you've been holding out on me." The one-eyed ninja said as he bent down and began to pick Lee up.

"Hey, who the hell are you? Where are you taking my teammate?" Naruto ran up to the man.

"Sorry about this Naruto, I'm just taking him back to his place. Leave this whole mess to me, you just get those two ladies home." The ninja made a quick hand-sign, then he and Lee were both gone.

Naruto stared bewildered at the spot the man just left from. "Who was that guy, and how did he know my name?" Naruto's answer was a pained groan from Hinata. Naruto instantly forgot about the mysterious shinobi for a second. "Hinata, you okay?" Naruto ran over and helped Hinata help from the heap she was on.

"Yes, I'm fine, Naruto-kun, just a little dazed." Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. He then looked over to Ayame. She looked to be in a daze as well.

"Nee-chan, we gotta get out of here." Naruto held Hinata's hand as they walked up to her. Ayame paid them no mind though. "Nee-chan?" Naruto put his hand on her shoulder. Ayame snapped out of it and looked over at Naruto fearfully.

"Naruto, what the heck did that man just do, is Lee going to be okay? He won't get in any kind of trouble for this will he?" Naruto grabbed her by the forearm and pulled her out of the restaurant as she asked her questions. They got a huge amount of questioning stares as they left and started walking down the street. "Naruto, answer me! Lee is going to be okay, right?" Ayame was starting to get frantic. She shook herself free from Naruto's grasp and stopped walking.

Naruto stopped and looked back at her. "Bushy Brow will be just fine, maybe a little hung over, but okay. That weird guy just knocked him out is all. I doubt he'll be punished for something like this. That guy said he would take care of him. He was a jonin so we should trust him to keep his word."

Ayame let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. Her relief then transformed into rage. "If I ever meet that Nene again, I'm going to have a couple choice words for her! She better hope that I don't get my hands on her or there'll be hell to pay!" Ayame started storming off towards her shop. Naruto watched her go, too fearful to get close to the raging woman.

"I think it's kind of cute." Hinata said, catching Naruto's attention. "She seems bossy, but she really does seem to care about Lee-senpai in her own way." Naruto chuckled.

"Yeah, Bushy Brow said something like that about her too." Naruto stared back at Ayame again before looking back to Hinata. "I'm sorry, guess our first date got really messed up, huh?" Naruto did his best to smile at her.

To his surprise, Hinata gave him a genuine smile back. "It's ok, Naruto-kun. I enjoyed what time we had, just being with you a little is enough for me." Naruto felt himself blush at her words.

"Y-yeah, well, then, what do you say we take the long way to your house than?"

"I'd like that."


	12. New Training

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_New Training_

* * *

"Headband? Check! Kunai and shuriken stocked? Check! Awesome green outfit? Check! Okay, I'm ready to go!" Naruto beamed at his own reflection in the mirror. It felt good to be back in Konoha and getting up in the morning to go for an intense day of training. It was amazing how much could change in such a short time. A little over a month ago and he would have thrown up at the prospect of having to get up at 4:30 in the morning to begin training. Now, he found he had missed doing it while they were out on the C-rank mission.

Naruto switched his light off and cautiously stepped through the house. He had to be a little quieter in the morning now that he had roommates. To his surprise though, Haku was up, in the kitchen, and fully dressed.

"Oh, Naruto-san." Haku looked just as surprised to see Naruto up at this hour.

"Good morning." Naruto greeted. "I didn't wake you when I took my shower did I?"

"Oh no, I am just an early riser. You look like you are ready to go somewhere." Haku observed Naruto dressed in his complete ninja attire.

"Yeah, me and my team always meet up at five in the morning to train." Naruto rubbed the back of his head. He found talking to Haku a little awkward. He wasn't really a bad guy, just overly polite, almost emotionless at times. It was more unnerving to Naruto than anything.

"I see." An awkward silence settled over the room. "If you don't think Guy-san would mind, could I perhaps join you guys in your morning training?"

Naruto was taken aback by his roommates request. "He wouldn't mind at all, but are you sure? What about your arms?"

Haku flexed his hands lightly, he had gone to the hospital yesterday and the medical-ninja there had almost completely healed his arms but they still warned him to take it easy. "They should be alright."

"You sure?" Naruto looked reluctant.

"Is it not okay?" Haku looked disappointed.

"No, no. I said it's alright. I just thought you wouldn't want to with your arms just being healed and all." Naruto waved his arms in front of himself in defense. "If you're all ready, I'd like to get going right now. I'm usually the last one as it is."

Haku immediately brightened. "Yes, I am prepared. I look forward to training with you guys." Naruto smiled at him and led him out the door. Maybe not as emotionless as he first thought.

Once outside, Naruto took to the roofs towards his team's training ground. Haku kept up with his more than brisk pace. Soon Naruto landed in an open field, Haku no more than a step behind. As expected, the rest of the team was already assembled.

"Naruto! And Haku! What a pleasant surprise to see you at such a young hour in the morning! Perhaps your flames are looking to be fanned until they shine brilliantly?" Haku winced at Guy's boisterous voice.

"Don't let it bother you, I think everyone who lives around here wears earplugs to sleep or something." Naruto and Haku walked up to his team. "I hope it's okay that I brought him Guy-sensei. He is a member of Konoha after all."

"Of course it is fine, Naruto!" Haku couldn't help but wince again. He also couldn't help but wonder how the others seemed oblivious to the man's uncannily loud voice. "I am most glad you brought him actually! I intend to do things a little differently today!"

Haku wasn't sure what the Taijutsu master meant, but by the looks of his peers he wasn't alone. For that matter, they looked a little more lost than he was.

"What do you mean by different, Guy-sensei?" Hinata was the first to voice her confusion. "We are not going to be splitting into our groups anymore?"

"No, you see, the time for individual training is over. You have all progressed nicely and have met the basic requirements I had set for you." Guy gave them his thumbs of approval. "Instead, for morning practice, I will simply observe you all as you go for one on one spars for the next two hours."

"You don't mean you're done teaching us new tricks are you?" Guy quickly caught onto Naruto's concern and raised his hand to silence them all before any more questions could be made.

"Not at all! However, we now have much more time as a team to perfect these things, not being on missions for awhile. So instead, I am going to spend our mornings together working on your Taijutsu. You shall work on other stuff later. In fact, I have a special surprise for you all later."

"Yosh! I love surprises! They give me a feeling of such youth that I could be just a wee lad again!" Lee's eyes seemed to catch fire. Haku backed up just an inch. This group was crazy. Just what did he get himself into? Haku realized too late that he made the wrong move backing up. Guy had been drawn to the subtle movement.

"Haku! How would you like to go first? You and Naruto can have a good warm-up match!" Naruto practically jumped for joy at being called first. He rushed a little farther out into the clearing and turned around. Haku sighed in defeat and walked forward.

"What are the rules of this match?" He asked while he slipped into his stance.

"Just taijutsu, none of that mirror stuff of yours." Naruto beamed as he slipped into his own stance.

"Doesn't that put you at a disadvantage as well? If I remember correctly, you specialized in clone combat. Are you all that capable without them?" Haku had meant the question innocently enough. But the look of anger that slipped onto Naruto's face told him that he had definitely worded that poorly.

"You'll be sorry if you underestimate a genius of hard work." Guy warned. "If you guys are ready? Begin!" Haku was still pondering what Guy had meant by "genius of hard work" when he called to begin. Naruto hadn't missed a beat though and had cleared half the distance before Haku was even self aware.

"Don't just stand there, it won't be fun that way!" Naruto threw a punch right at his opponent. Haku grabbed his fist and upper arm before the fist could connect. Then, planting his feet firmly he lifted Naruto high in the air, intending the throw him backwards over his head, all in one fluid motion.

Haku didn't expect to feel Naruto grab onto his shirt sleeve just as he was completely perpendicular to the ground. Now, instead of going flying backwards, Naruto arced downwards. As he did he pulled Haku's arm painfully backwards. Naruto than pulled up, now lifting Haku over his head. Before the boy could even react he was slammed painfully into the ground on his backside.

The whole thing, from the moment Haku grabbed onto Naruto, to the moment he was slammed down, took less than five seconds.

"Excellent! Haku, that was an incredible counter to Naruto's punch! Naruto, your ability to think on the spot and make use of what you're given never ceases to surprise me!" Guy clapped for the quick performance.

Haku slowly stood up and gave Guy a look of pure disbelief. "I don't understand. Why praise me? I lost, instantly. That was disgraceful."

"Haku…" The way Guy said his name sent a shiver down his spine. That voice was straight up disturbing. He would rather the man be shouting at the top of his lungs. "You may have lost, but what matters the most is that you tried."

"That doesn't work in the real world, if you mess up there you are killed." Haku took a step forward. "Or have you already forgotten what I had done to Naruto-san?"

Guy's face suddenly took on a dark demeanor, one that caused Haku to take back his forward step. "Of course I have not forgotten! That moment will be engraved in my soul for eternity. However, this is not the real world. We make mistakes here and learn from them. That way when the time comes in the real world, we are ready. That is how we grow!" Guy's face brightened up after that. "So what do you say? Let's give it another go!"

Haku quickly nodded his head a couple of times. He turned around and was surprised to find Naruto was already back in his fighting stance. Had he known that Guy was going to come out on top of that argument? Haku had a feeling it may have been from personal experience. Their sensei was truly an impressive shinobi.

"Don't expect me to go any easier on you this time!" Haku settled into his stance as Naruto shouted.

"I wouldn't expect anything like it." He gave Naruto a small smirk. He would definitely do better this time.

"Ready? Go!" This time both Haku and Naruto raced at each other. If the blonde was surprised by Haku's new tactic he didn't show it. Naruto and Haku both cocked their fists back and sent them forward. Their fists collided with a loud smack. Neither boy showed any sign of pain though. Naruto immediately brought his left knee up. Haku brought his up at the same time. They both connected as well.

"What the hell?" Naruto jumped backwards and Haku mimicked him. They both began stalking one another in a circle. "You're copying my fighting style!" Naruto studied his opponent carefully.

"Not exactly. I am just reading your movements and matching them." Haku explained blandly.

"That's the same thing!" Naruto's face scrunched up in anger.

"I can't help it if you make your movements so obvious." Haku taunted.

"Let's see you say that when I shove your face in the dirt!" Naruto charged at him again. Haku matched his charge. They both jumped in the air and delivered a spinning kick. As with the last two blows, their feet collided. Naruto smirked and pushed off, intending to knock Haku backwards. To his chagrin, Haku pushed off at the same moment. They both did a back-flip and skidded on the grassy earth.

"Now you're starting to piss me off." They both ran at each other again. Instead of throwing fists though, they ran straight past each other, then both stopped hard and spun around. Naruto's backhanded fist met forearm to forearm with Haku's.

The group to the side watched the sparring match with great interest. "That is incredible Guy-sensei! He looks just like a mirror of Naruto, copying his every move like that! He must be reading the slight tensions in Naruto's body to know what he is going to do!"

"Well spotted Lee! Yes, Haku indeed has an incredible pair of eyes and reflexes. To not only be able to predict Naruto's moves, but match them flawlessly takes years of practice. Few without possession of the Sharigan are capable of it."

"Surely there are weak-points to that fighting style though." Hinata whispered as she watched with an active Byakugan.

"Yes, of course. For instance, that wouldn't work if Naruto was using his clones or Lee had his weights off. Nor would it be possible for him to mimic your Jyuuken. However, in a fight of just taijutsu, it proves most effective." Guy held a finger up has he explained all his points.

"Yes, but it is also not advantageous here is it? I mean, Naruto has far more stamina than he. It will only be awhile before he starts to slow down and Naruto nails a powerful punch." Lee was busy writing down notes of everything his sensei had just said.

"Good point Lee, but you are forgetting one thing!" Guy said with a knowing wink.

"Oh, what is that, Guy-sensei? Please tell me!" Lee begged, his pencil and notepad ready to go.

"Naruto's temper!" Lee quickly scribbled it down. "Naruto would normally outlast him in this. However, if he loses his cool which in turn causes him to lose his focus, Haku will overpower him."

"They're squaring off again!" Hinata interrupted. Guy and Lee both turned their attention back to the fight.

"That does it! I'm gonna make you regret pissing me off!" Naruto charged forward with all his might. Haku stood still this time, a victorious smirk on his face. Just as Naruto reached him, Haku stepped to the side but kept his leg out. Naruto tripped over it.

The blonde started flailing. Suddenly, his flailing arms grabbed onto the front of Haku's shirt. "Ha! I got you now!" Naruto's anger was now replaced by his own smirk. He brought his other fist from down low to swing at Haku.

It took the other boy the barest of a second to figure out what had happened. Naruto had faked his anger and let himself get tripped. This had caused Haku to drop his own guard. "Clever but not good enough!" Haku threw his own punch. The angle wasn't right for Haku this time though. Their fists skidded right by each other and continued on to nail one another in the cheek.

Naruto lost his grip on Haku and fell forever. Haku lost his own balance from the force of the blow and fell back the other way. They both lay there in the dirt, panting heavily, and with a bruised cheek. Yet each one also bore a big grin on their face.

"Guess that one's a tie, huh?" Naruto stood himself up and offered a hand to his opponent.

Haku hesitated a moment before grabbed it. "Yeah, that means I'm improving. Next round will be my win for sure."

"You wish!" Naruto said as he started taking steps back.

"That'll be enough actually!" Naruto turned to give his sensei a disappointed look. "The others need a turn. Besides, you and Haku can have your final bout later!"

"Alright!" Naruto grumbled, walking back over to his team. Haku tried hard to hide his own disappointment. It was a strange feeling. This competitiveness was not something Haku had ever felt before. He definitely didn't dislike it though. On the contrary, he felt stronger because of it.

And so, the next two hours flew by for Haku as he sparred with his fellow genin. He won a couple matches and he lost a couple. The only one of the group who actually came out undefeated was Lee. Not that it was unexpected. Taijutsu was all he had to rely on after all. It was all over too soon in Haku's opinion. He was exhausted, sweaty, and covered in dirt, but he had had fun. He had never had fun with others his age and it was truly a different experience.

"Okay team, now here's what's going to happen!" Guy called as they all assembled around him. "We are going to part for two hours, and then we shall meet back up here, where I will tell you about that surprise!" The air of excitement from the group was practically overflowing. "So enjoy yourselves, and be ready for hard work when you return!"

"Yosh! Naruto, let us make haste to Ichiraku!" Lee was about ready to bolt but he noticed Naruto's hesitance. "Do you not want to go?"

"No, not that!" Naruto shook his head. "I just gotta talk with Guy-sensei about something important, so you go on ahead."

"Are you sure? I could wait for you." Lee offered.

"You wouldn't want to keep Ayame-nee-chan waiting would you?" Lee gasped at his question.

"You are right, I must make due haste to her! Be sure to come as quickly as your flames will allow you!" Lee was off like a rocket.

"What's this about, Naruto? If you want to know the secret I won't tell you early." Naruto shook his head.

"No…it's different. It's about Lee." Guy gave Naruto a puzzled stare.

"What about Lee? He seemed most youthful to me." Naruto shared a look with Hinata.

"Well, you see, Guy-sensei. Last night, Lee accidentally got some sake." Naruto stopped his explanation as he noticed his sensei's entire face go white. Haku looked on with interest. This was news to him.

"How is the establishment?" Guy managed to choke out.

"You know about what happened, Guy-sensei? The man who finally stopped Lee said something about him being a natural Suiken fighter, what is that?" Guy's eyes widened mentioned at the name of another person.

"What other person? Who stopped him?" Guy had a bad feeling in the pit of his gut.

"I don't know. Some weird guy with one eye and silver hair."

"Kakashi…my youthful rival…you strike in devastating blows yet!" This was a problem. Lee's Suiken abilities were supposed to be kept a secret. They had been his trump card against his rival's team. Now he knew about it.

"Uh…Guy-sensei?" Guy shook his head.

"A Suiken fighter is someone who specializes in fighting while intoxicated. It is a tricky art to master, but if perfected, is almost impossible to devise a counter attack against. Lee may have had an ancestor in his past that was one because Lee's skill in it is top notch."

"So you've seen it before?" Guy nodded to Naruto's question.

"Only once, right after Lee learned the Omote Renge. The result…was disastrous." It was Naruto's turn to nod his head.

"I can say the same. I thought he was scary strong in taijutsu before. But this was just ridiculous." Naruto shuddered at yesterday's memory.

"Yes, no matter what, keep Lee away from alcohol. I take it he doesn't remember." Naruto nodded again. "Keep it that way for now. Now I've got some preparing to do, I'll see you back here in two hours." With that, Guy was gone.

"You have got to tell me that story." Haku turned to Naruto the second Guy had left.

"Right, we'll tell it on the way to Ichiraku's." Naruto stuck his hand out and Hinata took it. With that, the group started walking out of the clearing.

Two hours later.

"Man, I wonder what this big surprise is? I can't even make a guess here." Naruto walked slightly ahead the rest of the group he was with. They were all heading back to the training ground to meet up with their sensei.

"Yosh! I hope it is the newest model of training weights!" Lee's eyes sparkled at the thought.

"New training weights? Is that really the most you hope for out of life?" Haku felt just a little sorry for the spandex-clad shinobi.

"I don't know, but do you guys think it has to do with Zabuza-san and Tenten-san?" Hinata said curiously.

"What do you mean by that?" Hinata pointed instead of answering Naruto's question. He looked forward and standing in the training ground with their sensei was Zabuza and Tenten. "Now that's strange."

"I am more curious than ever now!" Lee suddenly took off into the training ground. After a brief pause the rest of the group followed his pace.

"Tenten! It brings back memories of my youthful days seeing you again!" Lee dove at Tenten for a hug. The girl quickly stepped out of the way. Without her there, Lee flew into the ground.

"Come on Lee! We've talked about this. Hugs are okay, but none of them flying ones. Also, what do you mean youthful days? It's only been a month!" Tenten smiled at Lee after her rant and offered him a hand. Lee accepted it and she lifted him up. "It really isn't the same without you guys."

"Old friend?" Haku whispered to Naruto curiously.

"Old teammate, me and Hinata are Lee's second group." Naruto whispered back.

"I see." Haku then picked up his voice. "Zabuza-san. I am surprised to see you up so early. I take it Guy-san is the cause."

Zabuza snorted. "Of course he is. You better be thankful to me for this too, Haku."

"Thankful? I don't understand." Haku suddenly took notice of a sheathed katana in Zabuza's hand.

"I will now explain!" Guy interrupted any further conversation. "Naruto, Lee, Hinata, Haku. Today, you will all begin a different form of training."

"Even me?" Haku pointed to himself.

"Yes, even you." Guy reached into his back pouch and removed his nunchaku. "Today, you all begin learning to wield a weapon."

"But Guy-sensei. I can already use kunai and shuriken." Naruto interrupted. Guy shook his head a couple times.

"That is not what I mean. You will all learn to use one certain weapon. You will train with it daily. You are to become as familiar with the weapon as you are with yourself. Lee, these are for you." Guy handed a wide-eyed Lee the nunchaku.

"Really, these are mine? Guy-sensei?" Lee looked on the verge of tears.

"Yes! The nunchaku is the weapon I am most familiar with. Therefore, it will be I who will teach you how to wield them." Guy boasted proudly.

"But Guy-sensei, what about the rest of us? Does that mean we will get a different teacher?" Hinata was starting to see why Zabuza and Tenten might be here.

"You catch on quickly as always. Yes, while I regret to say it, I am not qualified to teach you in other weapons. So I found suitable people who could." Guy turned to Haku. "I assume you know who you will be training with."

Haku gave a barely visible nod. Zabuza couldn't help but laugh at this. "Cat got your tongue boy? It's about time I teach you the way of the sword anyway. Someday I need to pass Kubikiri Hocho onto someone after all." Zabuza had never seen a bigger smile from Haku his whole life.

"Hey, hey, Sensei, what does that leave for us?" Naruto pointed excitedly between himself and Hinata.

"Yes, you two. I'll start with you Hinata. To be frank, I don't know what kind of weapon to teach you." Hinata's head dropped a little in disappointment. "But do not worry, that is why I called Tenten here! She is going to go over a bunch of different weapons with you. Once you have one that you are comfortable with, you and Tenten can begin your training with it." Hinata looked over at the older girl.

"Let's do our best, Hinata-chan!" Tenten smiled brightly at her.

"Yes, thank you Tenten-san. I look forward to working with you!" Hinata bowed slightly to her.

"Alright, well if you don't mind, I am going to take her over to our training ground, Guy-sensei!" Tenten walked over and patted Hinata on the shoulder.

"Yes, that is most excellent. Hinata, remember to take a lunch and meet up with us at three for work on your Jyuuken style!" Guy waved his student and former student off.

"Well then, I saw a good river for me and the boy to train on." Zabuza motioned for Haku to follow him. "Be sure Naruto is on time today!" Zabuza called back as the two were walking away.

"What did he mean by that?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I'll explain later." Guy waved his question off. "Now Naruto, your weapon's training will have to wait awhile to begin."

"What, why?" Naruto asked before Guy had even finished speaking. Lee even looked at his sensei curiously for the reason.

"Well, the thing is, I haven't exactly worked it out with the man I want to teach you." Guy rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. A bad habit he had picked up from his blonde student.

"Well, who is it at least? When can I meet him?"

"He meets up with his team at ten. They always eat at a Korean Barbeque before-"

"You mean Shikamaru's sensei? Asuma or something?" Guy didn't even try to hide his surprise.

"You know him?"

"Well, I wouldn't say know him, but I've met him once. I was asking one of his students for a favor." Naruto shivered at the memory. "So what exactly is it he uses?"

Guy sighed in defeat. There was no hiding anything from his students anymore, was there? "Asuma-san specializes with chakra knives."

"That sounds awesome! What do they do?" Naruto interrupted.

"If you would let me keep talking, I would tell you." Naruto gave a guilty look and Guy continued. "You channel your chakra into them and depending on your chakra affinity, they gain a certain special property."

Naruto stared at him blankly. "You don't know what chakra affinities are, do you?" He shook his head. "Every shinobi has at least one affinity. For instance, say you were a fire affinity, the most common one here in the fire country, you would have a better knack for fire style jutsu. This doesn't mean you can't use water or earth ones per se, they just won't come as naturally to you." When Guy finished he noticed both Naruto and Lee hurriedly scribbling everything he said down onto notepads.

"When did you get a notepad too?" Guy looked back in forth between his two students.

"Bushy Brow just gave me one when you launched into that technical description. I gotta say, these things are pretty handy." Naruto admired his new notepad while Guy shook his head in disbelief. "So, Guy-sensei, how do I know what my natural affinity is?"

"Good question. There are special papers to tell you, but we are just going to wait until you use the chakra knives to find out."

"What if my affinity doesn't match Asuma's, will he still train me?"

"Asuma-san has a wind affinity. The least common here in the leaf village. It is not likely you will share in this. I am at least hoping he will teach you the basics." Guy explained.

"If you don't think our affinities will be the same, why have me learn it at all?" Naruto was really stumped by his sensei's logic.

"The knives are a perfect choice for you. You have so much chakra readily available that I think you could use those knives in a way like no one before. Call it a gut feeling, but when looking up weapons last night for you, I knew those had to be the ones." Guy patted his gut for emphasize.

"Well if your gut told you so, then I'm all for!" Naruto could understand a gut feeling quite well. He listened to his all the time.

"I'm glad! Lee, we shall train while we wait!" Guy turned his attention to his oldest student.

"Yes Guy-sensei!" Lee swung his nunchaku around until he hit himself in the head with one end. Guy had a lot of work to do.

* * *

"Okay, tonfa aren't really your thing either." Tenten sighed and looked at all the scattered weapons they had gone across. Hinata had shown a little bit of talent in some and next to none in others.

"Sorry, Tenten-senpai." Hinata used the honorific Tenten had preferred. She wasn't big on having -san or -sensei on the end of her name. "Please let me use the next weapon."

"Hmm…how about this one, kind of nostalgic don't you think?" Tenten pulled out her kusarigama. Hinata of course recognized it instantly. It was the very weapon Tenten had used to defeat Naruto in a one on one spar.

"I will give it a try." Hinata reached forward and tentatively grabbed a hold of it. She swung the ball end around a few times while slicing with the sickle end.

"You're not too bad at that one actually. I'll explain a little about it if you want." Hinata gave it a couple more of experimental swings before she stopped.

"I don't think I would feel comfortable using this. I understand that it's main use is to bind the opponent with the chain and then strike with the sickle, but I do not think I would feel comfortable doing that." Tenten gave a slight frown at the young Hyuuga girl.

"So you're not a big fan of killing people up close, huh? Kind of both fortunate and unfortunate you were born a Hyuuga then." Hinata understood what she was saying. Specializing in her clans taijutsu meant she never had to tear apart her opponent's skin to get to them. It also meant she had to be close to take their lives though.

"Well, I hadn't really planned on recommending these, but how about bow and arrows?" Tenten pulled the weapon in question out from her scroll. "It's easy enough to use, here watch." Hinata activated her Byakugan and watched as Tenten strung the bow and then pulled an arrow from her quiver. Tenten than knocked the air, turned towards the target and fired. She hit right in the center of one of the targets in the training field. "Okay, now you try."

Hinata grabbed the bow from Tenten. She then took the arrow that was handed to her. She did exactly what Tenten had done and knocked the arrow. When she let go to fire, the back of the arrow snapped downwards and nailed Hinata in the arm. She let out a hiss of pain as she dropped the bow and held onto her forearm where the arrow had hit.

"Oh, Hinata? Are you okay?" Tenten ran forward and inspected the damage. "That'll leave a welt, but you should be okay." She then let out a sigh. "Well let's see, what to try next…"

"No." Hinata caught the older kunoichi off guard. "I want to try again, please."

Tenten just shrugged. "Suit yourself." Hinata nodded her thanks and picked the bow and arrow back up. She knocked it again and aimed at the target Tenten had shot at. This time, when she pulled back, the arrow flew straight and true. It split Tenten's arrow into pieces and took the place of where it had been.

"Wow! Now that was a good shot." Tenten punched Hinata in the shoulder. "Looks like we found your weapon!"

Hinata nodded excitedly. "Yes!"

* * *

Naruto, Lee and their sensei waited outside the restaurant for Asuma and his team to come out. Lee was swinging his nunchaku around the whole time. He was already making good progress at it and Naruto was starting to feel just a little jealous. Finally, after nearly an hour of waiting the team was walking out of the restaurant. Asuma quickly caught sight of Guy and his students and started walking towards them.

Asuma's students looked confused at his change of direction but quickly saw Naruto and figured it out. Or more accurately, Ino recognized Naruto and the boy from the picture.

"Naruto! I thought I told you I won't go out with him! I should really kick your ass!" Ino started stomping up to an incredibly frightened Naruto.

"Wait, wait! It's not like that this time! Guy-sensei has a question for your sensei!" Naruto ignored the confused looks from Guy and Lee as he hid face behind his arms. He really hoped Ino didn't hit too hard. Fortunately for him, Ino had just noticed Naruto's sensei, and was gaping in horror at the man. Ino's fashion disaster sirens were going off in every section of her brain.

"Speak to me, you say? Well what is it you need Guy-san?" Asuma said after he took a long drag from his cigarette.

Guy clasped his hands in front of himself and dropped to his knees. Asuma backed up in surprise and dropped his cigarette. "I beseech you! Train Naruto in the use of chakra knives!" Asuma's students jumped back from the man's booming voice.

"Wha…?" Asuma said unintelligibly. After a good second he pulled himself together and let out a couple of coughs. "Why should I do that? What's in it for me?"

"I could train your students in youthful vigor!" Guy offered, still on his knees.

"I know exactly what you mean by that, and I guarantee you could never pull that off with this group. Besides, there is no way Naruto has the same wind affinity as me. It would be impossible for me to teach him." Asuma was frantically trying to calm the man down. There were a lot of onlookers already.

"I beg you to try anyways!" Asuma thought hard for a way out of this. Suddenly, an idea came to him.

"I'll tell you what. I heard from Kakashi you like to make bets." Guy's head snapped up at that. "If you win a game of shogi, I'll train Naruto. If you lose, you have to find someone else."

"I accept!" Guy was immediately on his feet. "Take me to this shogi board!" Asuma draped his arm around Guy's shoulder.

"Right away. Let's go guys." Asuma led Guy away. The genin all shared a look. They then walked after their respective sensei.

Asuma led them to around to the back of his house. After just a couple moments of them waiting outside, Asuma returned with the shogi board. "Here, you are." He set the game down in front of Guy who immediately began setting his side up.

"Well, do not dawdle Asuma-san! Take your seat and let's begin!" Guy looked up to his opponent.

"Afraid not, Guy-san. You see, I didn't say your opponent was me. Your opponent is in fact, Shikamaru." Asuma patted his laziest student hard on the back.

"Aw man. What a drag…." Shikamaru groaned as he slinked over to the shogi board. "Do I really have to play against such an energetic man?" Despite his complaints he set up his side of the field. "It's your move first, Guy-san." Shikamaru said lazily.

"Hey, hey! Are you not taking us seriously? If you lose cause of him you gotta train me!" Naruto pointed irritably at the lazy boy.

"Naruto, you really are dumb aren't you?" Choji said through a mouthful of food.

"What was that?" Naruto turned his angry attention to the plump boy.

"Shikamaru has never lost once in shogi, not even to Asuma-sensei. There's no way such a dumb looking guy can win." Choji shoved more food in his mouth.

"Your kidding…" Naruto suddenly had a bad feeling about this. He ran up to the board to cheer his sensei on.

Ten minutes later and Shikamaru was staring with incredible intensity at the board. "…I can't believe it. I lost." He finally said.

"You what?" For the second time Asuma lost his cigarette. He quickly ran up to the board. He hadn't bothered watching the game, he had been confident Shikamaru would win. After searching it for a few seconds he verified that Shikamaru had indeed lost.

"That's not possible." Ino voiced Choji's thoughts aloud.

"Hahahahaha, sorry to tell you all but I happen to be a shogi fanatic myself! Anything to stay ahead of my youthful rival, Kakashi!" Guy stood up and bowed down to a shocked Shikamaru. "Your flames burn brightly within your head. It has been a long time since I was given such a youthful challenge! Now Asuma-san! I believe I won our bet!"

"Of all the rotten luck…I would pick a game you were good at. I was so confident too." Asuma pulled out another cigarette and lit it. He then pulled out his chakra knives. "Okay, Naruto, listen up!" Asuma barked.

Naruto immediately stood at attention and saluted. "Yes Asuma-sensei!"

Asuma and his team were surprised by Naruto's reaction. "Right, take this and channel chakra into it! I can't determine anything until I know what your affinity is." Asuma handed him the knife.

"Naruto, not too much…you know what tends to happen." Naruto nodded to Guy-sensei's warning. He channeled just a little bit of chakra into it. No one saw anything happen.

"Does it feel heavier? Perhaps a little hotter?" Asuma asked curiously, reaching his hand out for the blade. Naruto shook his head. "That knocks out earth and fire. Asuma's hand was a good two feet in front of the blade when he pulled back sharply. A small cut appeared on his hand. "That's not possible…"

"Asuma-sensei, you okay?" Naruto asked worriedly. Asuma responded by pulling out a shuriken.

"Naruto, I am going to throw this a little to your right. I want you to swing at it but I don't want the blade to make contact. Just try to get it within a foot." Asuma pulled his arm back into throwing position.

"Right, I'm ready Asuma-sensei!" Asuma let his shuriken fly. Naruto swung at it and missed like he was told. To everyone's surprise, the shuriken split in half anyways. "Whoa, that was sweet." Naruto looked at the blade in awe.

"Well I'll be damned. He has the wind affinity after all. What luck. That makes two of us in the entire village." Asuma ran his hand through his hair. "But Naruto, I thought your sensei told you to go light on the chakra? I have to put in a lot to get it to go that far."

"But this isn't a lot for me. If I was going all out something like this would happen." Naruto pointed the blade at the tree.

"Naruto, wait!" Guy spoke too late. Fortunately there were no adverse effects. Instead the tree he pointed at had a hole in it, and the tree behind that, and the rock behind that. Lee went to inspect and the others thought he got lost after awhile.

Finally Lee reappeared. "It went just short of a quarter mile, Guy-sensei!" He reported.

Asuma whistled while Choji and Ino's jaws hit the ground. Even Shikamaru's eyes widened slightly.

"Guess I've got no choice but to train him now. He could really hurt someone if he doesn't learn proper control." Naruto smiled brightly and bowed down before his new weapons trainer.

"Thank you, Asuma-sensei!"

"Yeah, don't mention it, here take this one too." Asuma threw Naruto another one. "I tend to wield them in pairs so you'll be learning that way too."

"You're agreement to teach Naruto is most appreciated, Asuma-san! However, we must leave you for now. Naruto and I have an appointment with another teacher in less than fifteen minutes." Guy patted Naruto's shoulder.

"Geez, don't work him too hard. I expect you to start eating brunch with my team Naruto. We'll start practice immediately after that."

Yes, Asuma-sensei!" Naruto saluted him. Soon, Naruto, Lee and their sensei were off towards the Hokage Tower.

"What an incredible kid, wouldn't you guys say?" Asuma looked around at his students. "Huh? Where's Shikamaru?" Choji and Ino just noticed he was missing too.

Shikamaru trailed a few buildings behind Guy and his students. Abruptly Guy came to a stop and turned around. Naruto and Lee turned around as well. Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome." He walked up to the group of three.

"Can I help you, Shikamaru-kun?" Guy asked in a knowing voice.

Shikamaru clenched his teeth. This guy was definitely smarter than he let on. "Please, teach me to play shogi!" He wouldn't meet Guy-sensei's eyes as he spoke.

"Of course!" Shikamaru looked up in surprise.

"Just like that?" Guy's smirk got bigger and Shikamaru knew he was in over his head.

"I have a requirement now for anyone I teach anything to. They must participate in my morning sparing sessions at five in the morning." Shikamaru had to concentrate really had to keep his jaw in place. Five in the morning was unheard of. Yet he really needed a stronger shogi opponent. Shikamaru cursed inside his head.

"I'll do it." He said through clenched teeth.

"Excellent. We'll work out the details when I see you tomorrow morning. Here is a map to get you there. Now if you'll excuse us, we are really running behind." Shikamaru nodded as he stared in amazement at the map. The nut job had actually known he was going to come ask him and had a map prepared already.

"I got to get back to my team anyways." He finally said as he turned and ambled his way back in the direction of his sensei's house. "Man what am I getting myself into? How troublesome."

Guy checked the time again. "Right! Let us make all do haste!" He took to the rooftops followed by his students.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Hokage's office, two men sat waiting for Guy and Naruto.

"They are late. I guess I should expect no less from Kakashi-senpai's equal."

"Patience, Ten-Yamato." The Sandaime caught himself from using the man's old code name. "Guy is not one to be late normally, I am sure there is a good reason." Just as he said this, Guy and his two students burst into the room.

"I apologize for the delay, Hokage-sama!" Guy threw himself to the floor in apology. "Me and my students will do five hundred laps around Konoha on our hands to repent for such an error!"

Yamato wasn't sure what surprised him more. The idea of such a cruel form of punishment or the fact that his students looked rather excited by the prospect of it. To further his surprise, the Hokage burst out into laughter.

"Don't worry about it Guy. You are hardly late at all. I hope Naruto is ready though. This man here is Yamato, he was a former ANBU but has taken a temporary leave so he can train Naruto for us."

"You are too kind Hokage-sama!" Guy was up immediately and in front of Naruto's newest teacher yet. The man's gaze kind of creeped Yamato out a little. "I recognize you. You're that cute little kouhai that was always following Kakashi around."

"Well, I wouldn't exactly say followed around…" Guy suddenly took Yamoto's hand in both of his.

"Please take good care of Naruto in this dangerous training! I wouldn't be able to bear it if anything happened to any one of my cute little students!" Guy looked on the verge of tears.

"Ah, of course! No harm will befall him with me around! In fact, today we won't even begin any training. I simply intend to open his seal a little so he is capable of letting more chakra through." Yamato leaned his face back slightly.

"Oh, excellent! Do you mind if Lee and I stay for this?" Yamato shook his head. "Alright, Lee, let us take a seat and observe!" Guy and Lee were immediately in seats. Yamato blinked twice to verify that it had happened so quickly. His eyes then settled on Naruto who still stood in the middle of the room.

"Hello there, Naruto-kun. My name is Yamato. It is a pleasure to meet you." Yamato walked up to Naruto and stuck hand out.

Naruto eyed in suspiciously. "You can really teach me to control the fox?" Yamato couldn't blame the boy for his skepticism.

"I cannot really teach you. I am more going to help you teach yourself." Naruto stared at him curiously. "Maybe it would make more sense if I demonstrated my abilities." Yamato ran his hands through a set of seals. A tree started to sprout up next to him.

"Awesome, how the heck did you do that?" Naruto's previous insecurities forgotten.

"You could say that through an interesting series of events I now possess the same genetic make-up of the Shodaime." Yamato patted his fully grown tree. "As you are of course aware, he was capable of controlling the bijuu to a certain degree."

"He was? That's incredible! That explains why you're training me!" Naruto started climbing the tree.

He really didn't know that…and when did he get up there? It occurred to Yamato that this might take more work than he had originally thought. "Naruto, come down here and let me take a look at your seal." Naruto immediately complied and jumped down. He then pulled his shirt off and began channeling chakra. Soon the seal was visible.

"The Yondaime was an incredible person. This seal is still in perfect condition, hardly any chakra is even getting through." Yamato inspected it carefully. "Okay, don't worry, I am going to tamper with your seal just a little. All I'm doing is making it so you can consciously pull more chakra out of it on your own." Yamato immediately went to work on it.

"Say, Yamato-sensei, are there are risks on me pulling out its chakra when you've changed the seal?" Naruto looked down curiously as Yamato went about his slightly ticklish work.

"There are always risks. The fox will try to control your mind. The more chakra you let through the more influence it will get." Yamato didn't pause or look up to answer Naruto's question. "That should do it!"

"Already?" Naruto looked down curiously. His seal didn't look all that different to him. He'd never really studied it either though.

"Yes, now we are going to just test it today. The way it works now is by visualizing your seal. Once you've done that just image yourself pulling at it. The harder you pull and the more chakra you'll get." Yamato ran through seals as he was talking. Four pillars rose up around Naruto. "These are just to absorb the chakra you leak out. We are not going to work on controlling it today. Normally, when you pull out chakra from the seal it stays until it is all used up. Depending on how much you pull depends on how long it lasts."

"Right, so just pull out a little bit today and we're done?" Naruto asked as he began to focus and visualize the seal like Yamato said.

"Exactly, we'll work on maintaining your sanity tomorrow. Today is just to make sure it works and find out if there are any negative side effects from opening your seal up a little." Yamato held his hand up. A marking appeared upon it.

Naruto nodded and became completely still. Everyone watched with bated breath to see what would happen. At first it was nothing. Then they began to feel it. An oppressive chakra started to hang in the air. Then they saw it. Red chakra began leaking out of Naruto's seal. Soon it began wrapping itself around his whole body.

"Naruto, how do you feel?" Yamato questioned cautiously.

"I-I feel powerful!" His voice came out slightly feral. "Is this what it feels like to open the gates?"

"Do you feel yourself?" Yamato pressed on. Naruto gave him a confused look, but with his new slightly sharper teeth, it looked more like a snarl.

"I don't feel anything, I don't think he's in my mind." Naruto held his head as he talked. The chakra began disappearing. Soon it was all gone and Naruto looked completely normal again. "Man, I feel kinda dizzy." Naruto swayed a little and leaned on one of the pillars Yamato had erected.

"That's not surprising. I'd say today went quite well. I look forward to training you more in the future. Is noon good for you?" Naruto seemed to think about it for a minute.

"One would be better. I got weapons training that starts at ten." Yamato nodded a couple times.

"One it is than!" Yamato stuck his hand back out. This time Naruto took it without hesitation.

"Yeah, thank you for all your help Yamato-sensei." Guy stood up and walked over.

"Yes, we are all overjoyed by your youthful assistance. May you flames burn just as bright when we next meet." Guy also shook his hand.

"Yosh! Naruto, you were most impressive in your foxy aura!" Lee walked up and slapped Naruto hard on the back. Guy checked the time as this was going on. "We still have plenty of time. You are both dimissed until three o'clock. At that time Lee you are to report to the typical training field. Naruto, I need you to report to the place where you learned how to water walk." Naruto gave his sensei a confused look. "Just trust me, you'll be glad you did."

"Alright, Guy-sensei! I believe you, let's go Lee! I got a bowl of ramen with my name on it!" Naruto turned to walk out.

"Yosh! I am yearning to meet up with Ayame-chan!" Lee followed him out the door. The Sandaime let out a big sigh once they were gone.

"Are you really sure you want to go through with this Guy?" Both Jonin turned to face their superior.

"I have no right to tell him no. I explained myself yesterday, Hokage-sama." Yamato peered curiously at his senpai.

"Naruto-kun shows a lot of promise. I feel that I can properly guide him through his training. You have no need to fear." Yamato bowed down before the Hokage.

The old man let out another big sigh. "I know. I trust both of your judgments. I just worry for the boy is all. He's had such a hard life."

* * *

Naruto stumbled his way through the forest towards the river. It always amazed him that the village could have such greenery within the village bounds. It spoke volumes for the villages size. Soon Naruto stumbled out of the brush and onto the clearing. There he was faced with Zabuza and Haku as they were squaring off with their swords.

Haku was panting heavily and appeared to have various cuts throughout his body. "Man, you guys are still going at this?" Naruto made his presence known as he stepped onto the water with both of them. They both lowered their blades as they acknowledged Naruto's sudden appearance.

"Three o'clock already? Guess we really lost track of time." Zabuza said as he walked up to Naruto.

"I don't understand. What's going on here Zabuza?" Naruto looked curiously between his two companions.

"That's Zabuza-sensei to you!" The former kiri shinobi pointed proudly at his chest.

"Zabuza-sensei? Why would I call you that?" Naruto scratched his head.

"Were you dropped on the head as a baby? I am officially your Suiton ninjutsu instructor. I'll be training you and Haku together everyday at three while Guy continues to work on your other teammate's taijutsu." Naruto's eyes grew wide.

"Are you serious? You're going to be teaching us kick-ass water moves?" Naruto started jumping around in excitement. "This is awesome! I can't believe Guy-sensei finally agreed to let me learn ninjutsu!"

"Calm down there! I won't deal with none of that hyperactive crap!" Naruto immediately quit jumping. "Listen, learning to use elemental ninjutsu is tricky and sometimes dangerous. If you mess up you could seriously hurt yourself or others. You must learn to remain calm, especially for suiton. It requires fluid, precise actions to maintain properly."

"So what are you going to teach us first?" Zabuza resisted the urge to hit the kid upside the head. Instead he settled for a big sigh.

"First is the Sution: Suiben. It is the perfect technique to teach you how to control the water and bend it to your will. The seals are Ne, Inu, Ushi." Zabuza ran through the seals. "Practice those until you have them down. I will then give you a demonstration." Naruto and Haku nodded and began running through the seals for a few minutes.

Zabuza watched until he felt they were ready. "Alright, that should be good enough. Now observe!" He ran through the seals again but this time the water next to him rose up slowly.

"Oh, that's awesome! It looks almost like a snake!" Naruto shouted with excitement. Suddenly the whip flew at Naruto and wrapped itself around him. Naruto lost his balance and fell down into the water. A second later and he came up gasping for air. "What the hell was that for?" Naruto pulled himself back up so he was standing on the water again.

"For talking out of turn. Now I want you both to try and make this same thing. Making it will be the easy part. Getting it to go where you want and work the way you want is the hard part." Zabuza stood back as his two students started running through the seals.

Naruto, who was still a little pissed, put more chakra in it than he had intended. A massive wave rose itself up from under his feet, knocking him over and forcing Haku to break his jutsu and jump away. When Naruto fell the jutsu collapsed and Naruto went falling back under the water again. He came back out gasping for breath.

"Too much chakra." Captain Obvious said as Naruto cursed and pulled himself back up again.

"I got it this time!" Naruto ran through the seals again. This time one just a little thicker than Zabuza's came up out of the water. Naruto brought it up to his shoulder level in a straight line and stopped it there. "How's that?" Naruto looked over to Haku to see that he had accomplished the same thing.

"Not bad runts. Like I said though, any fresh genin can do that. Now I want you two to launched them at each other. Don't worry about hurting one another. Pain tends to be a powerful teaching tool." Zabuza laughed a little too hard at his own joke.

Haku's whip started flying at Naruto. The boy almost took a step back on instinct. He needn't have worried. Haku's whip cut off at the base and the rest plunged into the water before it even made it halfway to him. "My turn!" Naruto focused on shooting his whip towards Haku. Suddenly it set off but instead of flying at Haku it just smacked down into the ground. It came up and smacked again. "Oh crap, what am I doing?" Naruto panicked and then his whip turned and slapped him in the face. Naruto fell into the water for the third time that day.

When he came up his ears were graced his Zabuza's laughter. "Yeah, yeah. Really funny! If your our sensei you should be trying to teach us how to control this thing!" Naruto pointed an accusing finger at the older man. Zabuza's laugher immediately stopped.

"I told you! You must remain calm! The reason your whip flew out of control is because you are trying to pace yourself too quickly. You need to learn to slow down." Naruto looked down at Zabuza's harsh words.

"What did I do wrong, Zabuza-sensei?" Haku spoke up for the first time since Naruto had arrived.

"You had your whip under control, but as you stretched it out you didn't put enough water into its base. When it was severed from its source you lost control of it. The best way to fix that is simply to apply more chakra. Now again!"

Haku and Naruto both ran through the seals and rose the whips up. Haku's flew first again. This time it made it all the way to Naruto and nicked him right in the cheek. Naruto almost rose his hand to rub it but stopped himself. He had to stay calm. He wasn't going to lose control here. His whip took off again and this time flew at Haku. It made jagged turns and looked more like a zigzag and Naruto ended up over estimating its turn and it flew right over Haku's shoulder. They both let their jutsu collapse.

"That wasn't bad. Haku has a natural advantage over you with his water affinity of course. You are too tense, that's why the jutsu was going all over the place. Don't force calmness on yourself like that. Take deep breaths and let it come naturally. It'll work out, trust me." Zabuza's voice was much calmer now, it almost seemed hypnotic to Naruto like that.

On his next try Naruto's came out a little crooked at points but it managed to nail Haku in the shoulder. Haku had gone for Naruto's other cheek. "I really think I'm getting this!" Naruto said excitedly as he let the jutsu drop while rubbing his bruising cheeks.

"Don't get too excited. You both have a long ways to go. You have to learn how to wrap it around your opponent yet, use it as a shield against small weapons such as shuriken, and learn to ride on it yet."

"We get to learn to ride it?" Naruto felt himself wanting to jump around again. One look from Zabuza expelled that thought though.

"You both have a long ways to go until then. Today I'm not going to teach you any more than I have. You will both do it until you don't even have to think about it. Now go!" Naruto and Haku immediately started up again.

* * *

An hour and a half later and Guy, Hinata, and Lee were greeted by the sight of Naruto and Haku both bruised and slightly wet as they walked into the training ground.

"Oh, Naruto-kun!" Hinata ran up to her boyfriend upon seeing the condition he was in. "Are you alright, it doesn't sting too bad does it? I got some healing salve, just a moment."

"Whoa, there, hold on Hinata! I'm fine. The fox will have these all patched up in a few minutes anyways. Haku might want that salve though." Naruto gestured to Haku who definitely looked more beat up than Naruto. "It's funny, he got me way more than I got him and he still looks worse for it."

Hinata reluctantly handed Haku the salve. "Thank you." Haku mumbled as he applied it to all his visible bruise marks. "This stuff actually works pretty well." Haku stared incredulously at the tiny bottle as instant relief washed over him.

"Of course. Hinata made it herself!" Naruto wrapped his arm around Hinata's shoulder. "She's a genius isn't she?" Hinata felt herself blushing slightly under Naruto's praise.

"Yes, do you mind if I hold onto this?" Haku asked as he held out the salve. Hinata shook her head and Haku stuck it into one of his pouches.

"So, Hinata, did you get to choose a weapon? I just realized that we haven't seen each other since nine this morning. We're going to have to go to Ichiraku's together after this. What did Guy-sensei teach you guy's today?" Naruto bombarded Hinata with talk before she could even reply to his first question.

"I did get a weapon. I choose the bow and arrows. They are amazing, the feeling you get when firing them is thrilling. Tenten-senpai say's I'm a natural. Guy-sensei just had me work on Juho Soshiken some more today. He says I need to build up my chakra reserves so I am not completely drained after using it. I would also really enjoy eating together afterwards. I missed you today." Naruto blushed slightly at the last bit and he looked the other way hoping she wouldn't see it.

"How cute! I greatly enjoy seeing young love and embarrassment!" Guy boomed with his hands on his hips. "Reminds me of my youthful days as a genin!"

"Guy-sensei, you had a girlfriend when you were a kid?" Naruto asked curiously. Even Lee had to look at his sensei questioningly.

Guy leaned forward very closely to them all. "It's…a….secret!" He whispered with great breaks in between.

"Aww…come on Guy-sensei, no fair!" Naruto shouted while the others looked disappointed.

"Naruto, you aren't upset at all that I've referred you to Zabuza for teaching are you?" Guy quickly changed the course of the conversation.

Naruto gave his sensei a confused look. "No, why would I be?"

"I just don't want you thinking I don't want to train you is all. Remember, no matter how many sensei's you get, you are _my _pupil." Guy made a big point of emphasizing the my.

"Guy-sensei…" Naruto's was touched by how much his teacher really cared. "I understand why you let Zabuza train me, he's a master at suiton after all. I'm more surprised he actually agreed to train me."

"He's taken an interest in you." Haku answered before Guy could. At Naruto's questioning look, Haku continued explaining. "Zabuza-sensei has always been fascinated by special abilities. That is why I was able to travel with him."

"So he's only interested in me because of the fox?" Naruto sounded slightly hurt.

"Enough about that! We must get back into our usual routine! I trust you all remember the pace you were when we left the village?" Guy was met with nods from each of his students, albeit Naruto took awhile to respond. "Good. Haku, we'll need to set up a schedule for you. I'll just see how you do tonight and I'll have one written up for you tomorrow.

"I'm sure I'll be able to keep pace with whatever exercise they're doing." Haku smiled good-naturedly.

He'd never been more wrong in his life.


	13. Invitation

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_Invitation_

* * *

The Hokage leaned back in his chair and peered at the two jonin that stood before him. Guy stood at his usual exuberant attention. He was practically bouncing off the balls of his feet. Kakashi stood the complete opposite. His shoulders were drooped and his nose was buried deeply in the usual orange book.

"I assume you both know why I called you here today." The elderly Shinobi finally spoke.

"Of course!" Came Guy's expected response. Kakashi said nothing but his book did vanish to show his attention.

"Later today I will call all of the Jonin Sensei together. Today is the day we decide who is ready for the Chunin exams and who isn't." The Hokage paused to take a drag on his pipe. "The two of you are a special circumstance. Your teams _will_ compete in the exams. Unless of course you want to forfeit and accept your punishment for losing the bet?"

"My team is more than ready! They will blow away the competition! Of course that means your team as well, Kakashi!" Guy sent a sideways smile towards his youthful rival.

"You may be surprised. I haven't been so easy on my team either." The Hokage had not expected that. Apparently, Kakashi was taking the bet more seriously than he thought. Then again, a chance to see Guy in something other than spandex was a good motivator.

"I would expect nothing less from you!" Guy was of course unsurprised by his rivals claim.

"What are your teams doing at this moment?"

"I gave them the day off when I received your summons!" Guy returned his full attention back to his superior.

"My team is probably waiting for me to show up." Kakashi said after an innocent moment of thought.

The Sandaime let out a tired sigh at Kakashi's typical antics. "Take these. They are the application forms for your team. Make sure they fill them out and have them ready for the exams." He held them out to his two subordinates. "The exams start in one week."

"I understand!" Both Jonin said simultaneously.

"One more thing before you both leave. I want you to meet the proctors for this exam." The Hokage held his hand up in the air.

The two jonin turned around just as the proctors walked through the door. Guy's eyes widened as he caught sight of them. "You guys…"

* * *

Meanwhile, Naruto and Lee sat inside their favorite ramen stand. Neither had their usual energy though. Something not unnoticed to the stand owner and his daughter.

"What's wrong with you guys today? How can you both looked so depressed. Did something happen?" Ayame couldn't take it anymore. Both of them sat hunched over the table. Neither had said anything. Not even to order.

Lee looked up first. "I do not understand!" He shouted. Ayame didn't even flinch. She was long since used to her some-what boyfriend's loud voice.

"What don't you understand?" She chided. She was getting no where like this.

"Why did Guy-sensei give us the day off? It is not that time of week! We are making such great progress too! This is going to completely throw off our rhythm! What shall we-" Lee's rant was cut short as Ayame slapped him upside the head.

"Are you joking me?" Her voice practically reached his level. "That's what you're upset about? I know you are really into working out and everything but that's just ridiculous! Besides, you don't need him to train more! Just improve on what you know!" Lee's face suddenly lit up. Ayame nearly fell over the counter. "And don't give me that "great idea face!" Any normal person would have thought of that immediately!"

She than turned her attention to Naruto. "And what about you? Don't tell me it's the same reason as him?" The boy in question finally turned his head up.

"It's not that." He said.

"Then what?" Ayame leaned in closer.

"Hinata went off to do extra practice and left me behind." Ayame wanted to hit him upside the head too.

"That's what I told you guys to do just now!" Naruto's face suddenly lit up the same way as Lee's.

"Are you joking me?" Ayame buried her face in her hands.

"You sure are a genius Ayame-nee-chan!" Naruto spun on his chair towards his teammate. "What do you say Bushy Brow?"

"I say it is an excellent idea. Ayame-chan! Get me a miso ramen first!" Lee pumped his fist into the air. "Naruto, while we wait, let us arm-wrestle to strengthen our arm vitality!"

"I like it!" Naruto set his arm down on the counter. Ayame could only sigh. She turned around to place the order but her dad was already making some.

"On three!" Lee grasped Naruto's hand in his.

"One.." Both of their arms tensed up.

"Two…" Ayame walked over with the bowl her father had already prepared.

"Three!" Ayame set bowl down just as they started. Or rather, just as Naruto lost. Lee's work out routine was still well ahead of Naruto's and it showed. He slammed Naruto's hand down just as the competition started. Unfortunately, there was now a bowl of ramen there.

Their hands just barely hit the edge of the bowl, flipping it and sending it flying from the counter and out towards the street. They didn't see where it landed once it flew out there but they definitely heard it.

"Hot! What the hell is this? It's freaking hot!" Naruto and Lee quickly bolted outside of the store to see who it hit. They both stopped short outside of the stand. They weren't sure who it was they had hit, but one thing was for sure. He wasn't from around Konoha.

"Hey, does this belong to you guys?" The man with face paint and a black cowl with what looked like cat ears said as t\he slammed the bowl down onto the street. It crashed loudly and pieces went flying everywhere. Neither of the two genin noticed though. Because on the man's back was a big mummy-like object and across his forehead was a headband. One from Sunagakure.

"Hey, assholes! I'm talking to you!" The Suna Shinobi stepped forward and reached his hand out towards Lee. The two immediately jumped into action. Lee knocked his hand away and assumed his fighting stance. The unfamiliar Shinobi stepped back and reach for the object on his back but paused. On any side of him was a clone of Naruto.

"What is a foreign shinobi doing here in Konoha?" Lee demanded.

The Suna shinobi made a face of confusion. "What do you mean by that? Are you stupid?"

"Answer the question!" The Naruto to his right snarled.

Instead of doing that, the cat-like shinobi chuckled. "Bad move, punk!" He whispered.

"Wha-" The clone didn't get any farther as a giant blunt object crashed into it's head and dispelled it.

"Damn! They're shadow clones!" Said the newcomer. A tall blonde kunoichi who held a giant metal object in one hand. She also wore a Suna headband. Without missing a beat, two of the remaining Naruto's charged the new girl. At that same moment Lee and the last Naruto charged the one with face paint.

"Not good!" He dropped down his mummy just as a chilly voice reached all their ears.

"That's enough." All movement stopped at once. Systematically they all turned their heads down the street to where a single redheaded shinobi stood.

"G-Gaara! This isn't what it looks like." A glance from the petite looking Shinobi silenced the older Suna one.

"Kankuro. Temari." Both gulped as he spoke their names. "Instead of disgracing yourselves further, just explain why we're here."

Naruto and Lee had yet to move from their spots yet. Lee couldn't believe it. How could this little kid shake these two up so bad? He didn't look like much. He figured Naruto shared his thoughts but was surprised to find that Naruto seemed to be trembling as he stared at the boy as well.

"Right, well. We're here for the Chunin Exams, of course." The one called Kankuro said aloud, not really looking at anyone in particular. Lee had to mentally kick himself. Of course. The Chunin Exams! Now it all made sense.

"I assume you'll be participating as well." Gaara spoke up again. Lee was surprised to see that he was staring directly at Naruto.

"Err…O-of course we are!" One of the Naruto's managed to break from his stupor long enough to respond.

"Then as a fellow container, I look forward to the chance to be able to slaughter you." Lee's eyes nearly doubled in size as a malefic grin settled across the young genin's face. That look was not sane. And did he say fellow container? Was he referring to the Kyuubi?

Naruto didn't respond this time. It was probably more accurate to say he couldn't respond. "Let's go!" Gaara spoke as he disappeared in a whirl of sand.

Temari immediately leapt away herself but Kankuro paused. "Hey kid." He said while looking at Naruto. The blond's eyes didn't leave the spot that Gaara had just been at.

"My name's Naruto." His voice came out very dry.

"Naruto. I don't know who you are or why Gaara just selected you out. But I'd be really scared if I were you. That guy is dangerous. You'd be better off not competing in the exams now. Just a fair warning." Kankuro turned and jumped off without waiting for a response.

The clones popped out of existence as Kankuro left. Lee walked up to the last remaining Naruto and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Hey? You alright?"

Naruto seemed to snap out of his daze at Lee's touch. "Bushy Brow!" Naruto turned and grabbed a hold of Lee's spandex. "That guy, that kid! He's like me! He's exactly like me!"

"Whoa there, Naruto!" Lee rested his other hand on Naruto's other shoulder and took a couple small steps back. "What do you mean? He has part of the Kyuubi sealed inside him too?"

Naruto shook his head quickly. "Not the fox. No, it was something else! I don't know how I know though. I could just feel it. He was able to feel it too though. He knew we were similar!" Naruto was breathing heavily now. Lee started to fear he was going to hyperventilate.

"Naruto! You have to calm down! You can't let this kid shake you up!" He's gone now!" Lee shook Naruto to try to get through to him.

"But I told him we were competing in the Chunin Exams! I don't even know what those are! How do we even enter?" Lee paused. He didn't have an answer now. At least not in entering.

"It just so happens, I have the forms to get you guys into the Chunin Exams right here!" Naruto and Lee both spun around to see Guy standing right there.

"Guy-sensei!" They both turned and stood at attention in front of him. Guy looked between the two of them. Trying to read their faces.

"You guys talk first. I'll explain the exams later."

Both wasted no time in explaining the events of just a few minutes ago.

"Hmm…I see. That is most troubling indeed." Guy looked between the two of his students. He then smiled brightly at them. "Do not let it get you two down though! No matter how strong he is I know you guys are stronger! Remember the intense training I've been putting you through! You guys can handle anything!" He placed a hand on each of their shoulders.

All the tension seemed to drain out of Naruto immediately. "So what are the Chunin Exams, Guy-sensei?"

"Exactly what they sound like! They are going to test whether or not you are ready to become Chunin! Shinobi from all over the continent come to compete in them!"

"And you are going to let us compete this year Guy-sensei? Even though Naruto and Hinata are still fresh genin?" Guy had told Lee and his team no last year for that very reason.

"I believe that with you there with them, they are more than ready! Have no fear!" Guy gave the two of them a thumbs-up. He then pulled out a sheet of paper for each of them. "Have these filled out and ready within a week from now! I will then submit them and tell you both where to go to start your exams."

"Yes, Guy-sensei!" They each took a paper and saluted.

"Now, where would Hinata happen to be? All three of you need to enter to be able to compete." Guy looked around briefly for his third pupil.

"She went to go do some training with Tenten." Naruto said somewhat bitterly.

"Hmm…I see." Guy was glad they were getting along so well. The problem now was, Tenten was about to quickly become an enemy. One of the big ones they needed to do better than at that. If Hinata got too close to her that could cause problems.

"Well, I am going to go find her than! Bring those with you tomorrow if you could!" With that, their sensei was gone.

"Well, let's go find Asuma-sensei's team!" Naruto said excitedly. "I wonder if they're competing too!" All his past fears of Gaara seemed to be gone now.

Lee was glad for now. If they were lucky they wouldn't run into that group at all. "Yeah, let's go find them!"

* * *

"Ready, aim, fire!" Tenten and Hinata both released their arrows at the same time. Six arrows slammed dead center into six different targets. "Damn. Hinata! You got this down!" Tenten punched her trainee lightly on the shoulder.

"Thank you, Tenten-senpai!" Hinata smiled happily as she admired the result of all her hard work.

"No need to thank me! I'm getting way better at this whole archery thing now too! We're learning together!" Tenten pulled more arrows from the quiver on her back. "You ready to go again?"

"How pointless. No matter how hard you work, the outcome won't change." Both girls spun their heads in the direction that the voice just came from. Sasuke emerged from behind the trees and walked up to the two of them slowly.

"Sasuke?" Tenten looked at him curiously. "What are doing here? Where's Neji?" She didn't see her remaining teammate around.

"What? You miss him?" Hinata felt the temperature of the area drop a couple of degrees.

"No, I'm just surprised you aren't following him around like a lost puppy like you usually are." Sasuke sneered slightly at her.

"Look, I'm just here to give you this." Sasuke handed out the application from for the Chunin Exams.

"Oh, I see he has you running his errands now." Tenten took the paper. "Neji sure trained you well." Sasuke's ever present scowl deepened a little.

Tenten put the paper and turned to continue her practice. Hinata and Sasuke didn't move. Tenten fired an arrow perfectly into a target, breaking the arrow that was already in it. "What, you waiting for a treat or something?"

"No. I just felt I should inform you that training this girl is pointless. She was always meek and untalented in class. Just because she found out she has a knack for archery won't help her. She'll always be a failure." An arrow suddenly flew past his head, grazing his hair lightly. Sasuke didn't even flinch.

Tenten turned her head in surprise to Hinata. Her Byakugan was active and she was making a face at Sasuke that Tenten didn't think she was capable of. "I'm not the same as I was, Sasuke-san. Also, you are not Neji-ni-san, so quit trying to act like you are."

Sasuke smirked. "I could tell before you even let the arrow loose that it wouldn't hit me. My eyes don't miss anything these days." He turned and started to walk away. "Speaking of your cousin, I could say the same about you."

Hinata's Byagukan slowly faded and her face returned back to it's usual calm demeanor. Tenten walked up and punched her lightly in the shoulder again. "That was awesome Hinata! Man, I wish I could do that sometimes. That guy can really get on my nerves!"

Hinata turned towards the older kunoichi. "You really don't get along with him at all?"

Tenten shook her head. "At first I tolerated him and Neji outright despised him. I don't know what happened, but Sasuke started following him around. He was constantly asking for spars and he would often begin to repeat some of Neji's "fate" lines. Neji gradually accepted him. The two are practically brothers now. It makes me sick to my stomach."

Tenten pulled out another arrow, spun, and fired without aiming. It hit its mark perfectly. "Skilled as always, Tenten!" Both kunoichi instantly recognized that booming voice.

"Guy-sensei!" Hinata spun and saluted while Tenten ran up to her old teacher.

"It's been awhile! We haven't met since I started training Hinata!" Tenten stopped just short of the tall man.

"Yes, and I can tell she has been improving remarkably! I knew I was right in trusting her to you for weapons training!" Guy patted his old student lightly on the shoulder and then walked up to Hinata. "This is for you." He held out an application. "It is…"

"To enter into the Chunin Exams." Hinata finished his sentence for him.

"Well informed as usual! Have you received yours yet, Tenten?" Tenten pulled her form out.

"Just a minute ago. I'm surprised you're letting your team compete this year. Two of them being newbies and all." Guy smiled and ruffled Tenten's hair.

"Of course, I have to compete with Kakashi after all!" Guy let out a boisterous laugh.

"Of course." Tenten smiled at him. "I forget sometimes that he is your eternal rival. He's just such a nonchalant guy most of the time.

"Damn that Kakashi and his hip attitude!" Guy screamed pointlessly into the air. "What kind of example are you setting for the children?"

"No, I think you should be asking yourself that." Tenten whispered gently to Hinata who couldn't help but giggle.

"I must find and scold him right this minute!" Guy disappeared only to reappear a second later. "Have that filled out for tomorrow morning, Hinata." Guy was gone before Hinata could respond.

"What a crazy guy!" Tenten joked to herself. "What do you say Hinata? Let's take the rest of today off!"

"Yes, I must return home and fill this out immediately. I know how important this will be to Naruto-kun." Hinata smiled slightly to herself.

* * *

"What the hell do you mean you guys don't have any time to train this week? What the hell are you two doing?" Naruto shouted at his Ninjutsu instructor and partner.

"Look brat, it's classified. We got a secret mission going on for the next week." Zabuza spoke in the annoyed tone that only seemed to come out when Naruto or Guy were around.

"But I got Chunin Exams in a week! I need all the training I can get!" Naruto was started to get irritated. First Guy-sensei canceled their training for the day. Asuma-sensei got called off to some Jonin meeting so he didn't have time today. Now Zabuza said they were done training for a week?

"Just rehearse all the basics. We all know you need all the extra practice you can get. You don't need me stranding over your fricken shoulder." Zabuza growled at the blond before him. "Now if you don't mind, I got work to do." Zabuza turned and walked off.

"Sorry, Naruto-san!" Haku bowed to his friend. "I would like to train more too but I have been selected for a mission."

"You won't be competing in the exams then, Haku?" Naruto felt a little sorry for the boy in front of him.

"There will be other opportunities for me to become a Chunin, Naruto. Just do your best to pass this year so we are not forced to compete against each other next time." Haku straightened up and extended his hand.

Naruto shook it. "You got it, Haku." They dropped their hands and Haku then hurried after Zabuza.

"Well, guess I better go fill that sheet out! I really hate paper work too!" Naruto sighed. He then turned and walked the other way. After a good ten minutes of walking he emerged into his team's training ground.

"Naruto-kun, there you are!" He was surprised to see none other than Hinata running up to him. She was panting hard and it took a lot of running to get that anymore. She must have been looking for him for awhile now.

"Hinata? What's up, you look panicked. Everything alright?" Naruto placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Naruto, my father-"

"Did that bastard do something to you again?"" Naruto interrupted. "I'll knock him on his ass if he did! He'll pay if-"

Hinata put her fingers up to Naruto's lips. "My father wants you over for dinner tonight." She completed her sentence.

She pulled her fingers away. Naruto didn't say anything though. Or more, he couldn't think of anything to say. Hinata was the only person who had successfully put him at a loss for words _twice_.

"Huh?" Was the most intelligent remark he was capable of making.

"Just come with me, we're already going to be late if we don't hurry." Hinata grabbed Naruto's hand and started pulling him along.

"But, uh, shouldn't I change?" Naruto's brain was slowly starting to kick back on.

"Don't worry about it, I am in my Shinobi attire as well." She looked back briefly to see a complete look of horror on her boyfriend's face.

"What, uh, why am I doing this?" Naruto couldn't think of a nicer way to poise the question at the moment.

"The Chunin exams came up and he'd like to eat with us before we participate in them." Hinata continued to hold onto his hand as they ran through town.

"Oh, I see, what should I do, and say?" Naruto felt the panic mounting. He'd never eaten at someone else's house and the Hyuuga house didn't seem like a good one to start with.

"Just be yourself, Naruto-kun. It'll work out." They arrived in front of her house.

"Hinata, myself is not a good way to go with this, trust me." Naruto stared nervously at the house doors as they slid open.

"It'll be fine, Naruto-kun! You can do this!" Hinata ran back, gave him a kiss on the cheek, and pulled him inside.

Hinata quickly pulled him through the numerous twists and turns that made up the Hyuuga house. Soon the two of them stood outside a sliding screen door where Hinata paused.

"Just follow my lead, it'll be alright." She whispered very quietly into his ear.

"Hinata?" A voice called from the other end of the door. "Would you and your guest care to enter?" Hinata mentally flinched. Leave it to her father to have been watching with his Byakugan. As if Naruto hadn't been nervous enough already. He was practically trembling now.

"Yes, we'll be right in." Hinata gave Naruto one last glance before she slid the door open and walked inside. Seated at the head of the table was her father. Hanabi sat on the left side of the table close to him. On the right side of the table were two extra sets of silverware, where they would sit.

Hinata bowed low and she watched Naruto do the same. "Good evening, Father."

"G-good Evening!" Naruto's voice cracked and went up a couple of octaves at that moment. His face quickly took on a look of horror which then turned into red faced embarrassment.

Hinata heard Hanabi stifle a small giggle. Her father made no outward reaction.

"Good evening to you both as well. I am glad to see that you could both make it on such short notice." He gestured for them to take a seat.

Hinata nodded and led Naruto over to the two cushions that were their seats. She sat down on the one closer to her father and he sat down on the one right next to her. As soon as they were seated, a server walked in carrying four bowls of soup. He set one down in front of each person present before quickly retreating out the door he had come.

Naruto sighed in relief. He could handle soup. It looked a lot like ramen after all. It couldn't be so bad. Naruto went to grab his utensils when he realized he might be in trouble after all.

"Umm…where's the chopsticks?" He saw quite a few different spoons. A couple knives, and a fork. But no chopsticks.

"We are dining to a western style dinner tonight, so chopsticks will not be necessary." Hinata's father answered in between sips of his tea.

"Ah, of course! Western food, my favorite!" Naruto laughed nervously. Great, now he had to figure out which spoon to use.

Hinata nudged him gently. When he turned to her she was gesturing to the spoon she was using. Naruto nodded his thanks and quickly grabbed his own.

Naruto observed the others for a quick second. They all ate their's with an eerie silence. A feat he only prayed he could accomplish.

He rose his spoon to his lips and gave a quick slurp. The sounds probably went three rooms down, causing Naruto to freeze in his tracks and Hanabi to cover up another round of giggles.

Hiashi continued eating as if nothing had happened. Naruto then did the most sensible thing he could think of. He set his spoon down and waited for this portion of the meal to end.

If this offended anyone they did not show it. Naruto figured they probably understood so he didn't say anything. Soon the soup was taken away. Next a tray of appetizers was set out between them.

This time Hiashi did not make a grab for anything. He instead took a long sip of his tea before he set it down and turned his attention to Naruto.

"I understand that you and my daughter are to be participating in the Chunin Exams in the coming week."

"Ehh…yeah, that's right." That was not the thing Naruto had expected to hear. He had been waiting for some kind of formal insult, but instead it actually seemed like the guy was making light conversation.

"Those exams can be perilous." Naruto snapped out of his train of thought. "Do you think your team is prepared to handle them?"

Could they handle them. Good question. With that Gaara kid there, they definitely had something to be nervous about. But he couldn't say that. He was going to become Hokage after all. One little redhead couldn't stop him! "Of course we're ready! I just feel sorry for all the other guys that have to face us!" Naruto gave him his biggest smile to prove he was serious.

Hiashi studied his face for a few moments. "Then I can assume that you will make sure my daughter makes it out of them in one piece?"

The smile on Naruto's face quickly melted away into pure determination. "If anyone hurts either of my teammates, I'll rip them apart myself."

Now Hiashi smiled lightly. "That's more like it." He then turned his attention to the food in front of him. Everyone else did the same.

After the meal was done, Hinata escorted Naruto out to the main gates. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" She said once they were both outside and the door shut. Naruto was surprised by on dark it had gotten. The only source of light was the near full moon that was up.

"Not so bad? I kept waiting for him to snap at me for messing up! It was driving me crazy being in there!" Hinata giggled lightly at his antics.

"But you got through it. Now the Chunin Exams should be a breeze for you." She giggled again but Naruto didn't share in her laughter. Hinata noticed right away. "Naruto-kun, you okay?"

"I think your asking the wrong question." Naruto sighed and leaned up against the wood wall. "Are _you_ okay with this?"

"I don't understand, what do you mean?" Hinata rarely see Naruto this way.

"I mean, are you okay with me? I mean, you're seriously like a princess when you're in there! Me, I'm just like some kind of lowly street kid! How can you-"

"Idiot!" Hinata smacked Naruto on the top of the head.

"Oww…Hinata!" Naruto didn't have enough time to say anything else as Hinata wrapped her arms around him.

"It's always been you." Hinata said quietly. "I've always wanted to be with you. I don't care about anything like status or heritage. All that matters is that I care about you."

Naruto could do nothing but return the hug. "You're right, Hinata. I'm sorry. I'm still getting used to some things here."

"I know." Hinata pulled back. "We both are." She smiled lightly at him. Naruto was suddenly taken by how striking she looked when colored in the moonlight. He wondered how he could've missed something like that before. Without thinking he leaned in and kissed her quick.

"N-Naruto-kun!" Even with the little light, her blush was quite visible.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning Hinata!" Naruto took off down the street. "We gotta start training extra hard for these exams!" He disappeared down the corner, leaving her alone in the street.

"Goodnight, Naruto-kun." Hinata whispered to no one before she turned and went inside as well.


	14. The Chunin Exams

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_The Chunin Exams_

* * *

Naruto, Lee, and Hinata stood in front of a massive building. There were multiple entrances on each side and the building itself easily stood ten stories tall. Numerous Shinobi from all kinds of villages were walking into the building at that very moment.

"I don't remember there being a building this big here in the village…" Naruto stared in awe at the huge structure that stood before him.

"Me either, I wonder why they are having us meet in such a big building?" Lee too, was admiring the height.

"Well, there are a lot of shinobi competing it would appear." Hinata was more impressed with the amount of people she saw going into the building. "I wonder what we will be tested on in here?"

"No way we're going to figure it out just standing here! Let's go inside!" Naruto marched forward, followed quickly by his two teammates. They entered the building and took a quick look around. To their surprise they were in a small room with three sets of staircases going upwards.

"How curious." Lee mumbled and looked around. Apparently they weren't the only confused ones. Some groups stood there in an absolute stupor, looking at each stairwell intently. Waiting for something to happen.

Not too much later and a group came walking down one of the flight of stairs. They did not look pleased. "What the hell! We tried all three and not one of them got us to the top! What are they trying to do?" One of them shouted as he punched a wall.

"It would appear the exam has already started." Lee mused while he rubbed his chin.

"So if we don't get to the top before the designated time, we get booted before we even start, huh? I like this already." Naruto gave a feral grin and turned to Hinata. Her Byakugan was already active and he could see the gears in her head spinning.

"The set of stairs the one group just came down from is the correct path." Hinata whispered just loud enough for her teammates to hear. Neither responded. Instead they walked towards it. All three were sure to keep a look of uncertainty on their faces as they went up so as not to alert the other groups to their find.

Once they reached the next level, which was a long hallway that went two separate ways, Hinata reactivated her Byakugan. "Left." She said and started moving.

"Don't bother saying it aloud, Hinata. We'll just follow you." She nodded to Lee's instructions.

After making it up nearly three levels they stopped. "We're being followed." Hinata whispered again.

Naruto and Lee both nodded. They sensed it too. Naruto rose his hands up and formed his favorite seal. Three clones popped into existence. Two of them henged themselves as his teammates. At the next turn that team went one way and they went the correct way.

After nearly countless twist, and turns, ups and downs, Hinata finally stopped walking. "We're on the top floor." She announced.

"Nice going, Hinata!" Naruto wrapped his arm around her shoulder and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Naruto…" Hinata blushed just a little. She didn't move away from him though.

"I'm just sorry my clones weren't able to lose those guys that were following us." Naruto said a little louder than necessary. All three of them turned to see a very strange looking team of Shinobi walk up the stairs. Two of them looked normal enough. The third member looked like a mummy though. His hunched over posture and one visible eye didn't help his appearance.

"I must admit," Said the mummy ninja. "That it was rather difficult deciphering which set of footsteps to follow. However, no small difference escapes the ears of us Oto Shinobi."

"Otogakure? I have never heard of it." Lee said skeptically.

"Oh, you will soon." The other male responded.

"That's right, we're going to be famous once we conquer these Chunin Exams." The girl finished.

"Now if you'll excuse us." The mummy spoke again. All three walked passed Team Guy and proceeded into the doors where the exams truly began.

Team Guy walked forward as well and stopped outside the doors the team in front of them just went through. "No turning back once we go past these doors." Lee said.

"As if I'd turn back anyways. We're going all the way here!" Naruto shouted.

"That's right!" Hinata added.

"Music to my ears!" The team whipped around to see their sensei standing there behind them. He held up his hand before any of them could say anything. "Just listen." He said in a normal volume. "These exams can be rigorous. However, I have trained you hard, and I am proud to say that you are more prepared than most for the tasks ahead. Now know this, it is not common for first timers to pass. So no matter how far you get, I am proud you are my students."

Naruto chuckled at his teacher. "Come on, Guy-sensei. We knew all that already!"

"We'll show the world what it means to be trained by the greatest taijutsu expert!" Lee gave Guy the nice-guy pose.

"We'll teach them what it means to be a genius of hard work." Hinata said quietly but vehemently.

Guy felt the great urge to cry at that moment. "You guys, good luck!" Guy spun around and vanished before he had the chance to shed a tear in front of them.

"Alright, let's go!" Naruto grabbed the doors and flung them open. All three of them stepped inside to the massive room. Unsurprisingly they walked into a big room with sixteen separate doors. Each one being the entrance from one path or another.

What was surprising was the massive amount of genin who had managed to make it into the room still. Among them were a ton of people they even recognized. The group from Suna was there, and so was Kakashi's team. There were also the other rookies that Naruto and Hinata had gone to class with.

"Lee, Hinata!" Tenten took notice of the new group and came running up to them. Begrudgingly, Neji and Sasuke followed after her.

"Tenten-senpai." Hinata smiled at her friend just as she made it up to them.

"I see you guys made it. Of course, it was probably no problem with the Byakugan. Neji's got us here in no time at all." Tenten talked in a hushed voice, trying not to glean the attention from other teams.

"That's right! Hinata is amazing!" Naruto shouted loudly as he patted his girlfriend on the shoulder roughly. Everyone else in the group cringed at Naruto's voice as it instantly drew the attention of many other teams.

"Are you stupid?" Sasuke asked as he glared at the blonde. "You do remember that being a Shinobi means keeping a low profile, right?"

Naruto snorted. "That kind of stuff is overrated. It doesn't matter if they notice me or not. I'll beat them all down anyways."

"My, my, that's quite the proclamation." All six Genin turned to the newest person to make his way over to their group. A tall, older looking boy with white hair and glasses stood in front of them with one arm partially raised in greeting.

"Who's that guy?" Naruto asked quietly as he leaned towards Lee.

"I've never seen him before either. He has a leaf headband on though." Lee peered curiously at the older looking genin as well.

"I apologize, I forgot to introduce myself." The white-haired boy said, obviously having heard them. "My name is Yakushi Kabuto. I am another participant of this exam."

"Do you have business with us?" Sasuke asked suddenly, glaring at the older boy.

Kabuto adjusted his glasses and gave a disarming smile. "No, no. I simply thought it seemed more lively over here and decided to check it out. You're all first-timers in this exam aren't you?" All six Genin shared a look before they all nodded back to Kabuto.

"Must be nice. I forget what it is like to be ignorant to what's coming next." Kabuto smiled sadly at them all. "This is my seventh time taking the exam."

"Seventh?" Naruto, Lee, and Tenten all shouted at once. Kabuto rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Yes, well, I just have very bad luck, you see." Kabuto mumbled to himself.

Neji snorted. "It sounds more like fate is against you."

Kabuto gave a wry smile at his comment. "Fate...maybe so. Regardless, it has allowed me to gain extensive knowledge on all the villages. I could show you my cards. Information on anyone and everyone you want to know about." He pulled out an impressive sized stack of colorful cards as he talked. "Anyone interested?"

Lee rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Why are you interested in helping us? What do you gain from it?"

Kabuto again gave his disarming smile. "Perhaps future allies? There is no need to be suspicious." He said a moment later, taking note of the doubt in everyone's eyes. "I showed a few other rookies some cards just a few moments ago. I simply want to help you."

"Well...there is one kid I'm interested in." Naruto suddenly spoke up. Lee and Hinata looked at him with slight worry in their eyes. They knew who he was going to ask about. "Gaara. He's from Sunagakure."

"Gaara it is!" Kabuto grabbed onto a card.

Before he was able to reveal it, a white mist settled in over the floor of the room. "Alright, runts! You better pay attention or I'll chop you in half! The first exam has officially begun!" Naruto couldn't believe it. He definitely recognized that voice. He turned slowly and his worst fears were realized.

"What the hell! It's you!" Naruto screamed and pointed at none other than Momochi Zabuza.

"Quiet down over there you blond-haired brat! Or do you want me to kick you out right now?" Naruto lowered his finger and instead fumed quietly.

"What the hell is Zabuza doing? Is he really the one testing us?" Lee patted him lightly on the back.

"Think of it as a point in our favor. We know the guy after all. Maybe he will go easy on us?" Naruto looked at Lee like he grew a third eyebrow.

"You don't hang out with the guy much, do you? He's a sadist!" He said through his teeth.

"Alright! Here's how this is exam is going to work!" Zabuza broke up their conversation. "The rules are very simple! You have ten minutes to make it back to the bottom level and out of the building! You will descend with your teammates! If one of you gets lost and doesn't make it out, you all fail! You will of course notice a few differences on your way down! The first being, the whole area is now covered in a thick mist!"

There was a wave a grumbling amongst the assembled shinobi. "Shut up! If you don't like it then don't participate! I'd be more than happy to fail some of you now!" The grumbling immediately quit. "Now, you will also have to be weary of traps we set up! Most of the traps are designed to maim, not kill. However if you do somehow die, you fail! Now, select one member from each team to come draw a pair of numbers. There will be a red and a blue one!"

"Red is the number door you will enter to begin your descent! Blue is the order in which you will go! You will begin exactly ten minutes after the group in front of you goes! No exceptions!"

"But what if the group in front of us sets up additional traps?" Kankuro shouted out.

"That sucks for you! Part of this exam is luck!" Zabuza let out a dark laugh. "Now line up! When you get your number show it to an assistant and tell him the names of you and your teammates!"

"Well, I supposed I better get with my team." Kabuto smiled at the group. "Perhaps I can show you the cards another time." He said while walking away.

"We're gonna split too. No need in hanging together, we're rivals now." Tenten gave the group one more wave before running after her teammates that had both left already.

Naruto sighed. "Well, here goes nothing."

"That is right!" Lee patted his teammates again before he stood completely straight. "Hinata could you go draw our _random_ number?" He gave her a wink.

"Yes!" Hinata walked up and placed herself into one of the lines.

"I gotta hand it to you, Bushy Brow. You're pretty smart about this stuff. They won't get mad at us for cheating though, right?" Naruto suddenly felt nervous for Hinata's safety.

"Not if we do not get caught. If this is a true Shinobi test than our ability to get away with things like that is also part of the test." Naruto smiled and nodded a couple of times.

"So alls we need is to go first and we're set!"

"Wrong!" Lee said.

"Wha-"

"Let me explain!" Lee held up his hand to stop Naruto's question. "Are you more afraid of a trap set up by already skilled Jonin or Chunin, or by Genin?"

"Well, the Jonin of course!" Naruto stated obviously.

"Exactly. The groups that go in front of us will undoubtedly set off those traps. Meanwhile, they themselves will be setting up their own. That means the later we go, the more troublesome traps will be taken care of and we will only have to deal with the poorly constructed traps instead." Lee summed up for his younger teammate.

"Man, you really got it all figured out! I hope Hinata knows that." Naruto looked back to his girlfriend who was still in line.

"I am sure she does." Lee answered.

After what seemed like an hour of waiting, Hinata finally showed up with their numbers.

"I got us third place and door number one. That's the door we came through. Three is the last place by the way."

Lee gave her a thumbs up. "Nice work, Hinata! That was the best outcome we could have hoped for!"

"Not entirely..." Hinata's hushed whisper caused them to lean slightly towards her in concern.

"What do you mean? What is wrong?" Lee asked, his bushy brows furrowed.

"The Sunagakure team is the team to go right before us. There is no telling what they are capable of. Especially Gaara." Hinata was peering nervously at the Suna team the whole time she talked.

"We are just going to have to try. Right, Naruto?" Lee nudged his best friend lightly, ripping him from whatever thoughts he was trapped in.

"Yeah, definitely." Naruto nodded his head vigorously, as if to convince himself.

"Alright, punks! The first teams line up in front of your doors! You got one minute!" The teams began scurrying to get to their places.

Soon all the motion stopped as the groups got into their respective lines. Zabuza watched it all with mild amusement. It felt really good to be giving orders again. He looked down to his watch.

"The doors will open in three, two, one!" One second later and all the doors swung instantaneously open. The groups in front ran through. The doors swung shut behind them. Everyone in the room shuffled forward slightly. The room was now deafly silent. No one was making a noise at all.

Naruto fidgeted nervously. Gaara was only a few feet away from him and the whole time he was staring at him with a murderous gaze. Naruto didn't understand it, what was it about him that Gaara wanted to kill so bad? Was it cause he had a demon too?

Zabuza's voice came out monotonously as he called out five minutes for the next team. Then one minute. Thirty seconds. Ten seconds. One Second. The door would swung open and then the next team ran through. Naruto breathed out a sigh of relief as Gaara's murderous gaze was finally off of him. Zabuza's voice called out five minutes for the last team. Only forty-eight teams had made it to the top of the building and now only sixteen of those teams had left to go.

After calling off thirty seconds, Zabuza walked towards Guy's team. "Listen you brats." He whispered quietly. "As a proctor I can't show any favoritism here, but just know I'm pulling for you guys. After some of the shit you've been through I know you guys are ready for this!" Without waiting to hear a response he took a couple of steps back.

"Three." The group looked to each other and nodded.

"Two." They all turned their attention to the door.

"One." The whole room held its breath as the last groups prepared to enter. The doors swung open and with Hinata in the lead they charged in.

They ran quickly to the edge of the steps when Hinata stopped short. "What's wrong, Hinata? A trap?" She shook her head.

"My Byakugan is useless here. This mist must be enhanced somehow. We'll have to proceed without the use of my eyes." The other two nodded. "I still remember the route we took so that won't be a problem, we just won't see any of the traps until we're on top of them."

"Bring them on!" Naruto shouted and formed the ram seal. Three clones popped into existence. "Charge forward guys! We don't have all day!" The clones nodded and took off down the stairs.

"When you guys, reach the bottom go right!" Hinata shouted after them.

"Rog-" Three popping sounds were heard before they were able to finish speaking.

"Jump! It's a tripwire!" Naruto shouted as he formed three more clones. They all jumped just in time and cleared the first obstacle. They then instantly turned right with the clones staying several steps ahead of them.

"Some kind of liquid!" Naruto shouted as one of his clones slipped and fell over a pool of something. The whole group stopped slightly to observe what it was they had slipped on. Their eyes widened as they realized what it was. Blood.

The dangerous reality of the exam was now starting to sink in.

"The bodies are no where in sight. The clean-up crew must move fast." Lee observed as they all cautiously stepped around the the pool of blood. Once past, Naruto created three more clones and they were off again.

Down, left, right, left forward, up, right, down.

The three of them continued to sprint through the obstacles with ease as Hinata ordered the clones forward who would then trip the traps. Before they could even reset they would be past that trap and on their way to the next one.

"This is cake! We've got this!" Naruto shouted happily. His teammates both gave small smiles. It was their luck that their skills played out perfectly for this first exam. The biggest concern was, they had yet to come across a trap of any kind set by the Sand Siblings. Suddenly, Naruto skid to a stop as he felt his clones pop.

"What?" Lee asked excitedly. "What kind of trap was it?"

Naruto slowly shook his head. "It wasn't a trap...more like..." A figure lunged out of the mist at them. "...a person!" Naruto pushed both his teammates into the wall and then dropped down just as the figure flew over his head.

"Did someone stay behind?" Hinata shouted as she begin to move forward. She was forced to roll out of the way as a group of kunai flew at her. They thunked loudly against the wooden walls.

"Impossible! It must be one of the examiners!" Lee shouted as he jumped in the air and delivered a spinning kick. The figure blocked his kick with its arm and pushed Lee back, smashing him against the wall. "These close quarters are not helping us!"

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted as three clones appeared and tackled the figure to the ground. The three clones wrestled around with it for a few moments before it finally lay motionless on the ground. "Who are you?" Naruto shouted as he bent down to examine it. He gasped in surprise when he got close enough.

"What do you see, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked as she also began to lean closer.

"It...It's a puppet." Naruto mumbled, confusion evident in his voice.

The sound of something wooden dropping on the floor reached their ears a second later. They all looked down to see a small wooden ball had dropped from the puppets mouth. On the ball was one simple word.

Explode.

"Oh crap!" Naruto shouted as he jumped backwards. He wasn't fast enough as the explosion went off and the flames engulfed the entire floor. Fortunately for him and Hinata, Lee was fast enough. He had abandoned his weights and literally dragged them down the nearest flight of steps. "Nice one...Bushy Brow." Naruto was still gasping for breath. He was shocked they had survived that at all.

"Zabuza-san said their traps aren't meant to kill. If I had to guess, I would say the Suna team is responsible for that." Hinata stumbled up to her feet and took a couple steps forward before shaking her head. "This is the wrong way."

"Sorry, I took us to the closest escape I could." Lee began to make his way back up the stairs, followed by both his teammates. The sound of something massive sifting behind them caught all their attention.

"Ohh...what now?" Naruto groaned as he turned a squinted into the thick mist. They didn't have to wait long. A moment later and a giant wave of sand that took up the whole hallway came crashing into view.

"Run!" Hinata shouted unnecessarily. All three of them had all ready taken off. Hinata and Naruto had dropped their weights in the process.

"Hinata, lead the way!" Lee shouted as he slowed down just a fraction so she was in front.

"What about the traps?" She shouted not bothering to stop as she slid around a corner and kept on sprinting, both teammates hot on her tail.

"Screw the traps!" Naruto was looking behind them. The sand was gaining on them. "We'll just have to be faster than the traps! That sand is gonna kill us!" They all began descending another set of stairs.

"This is the third floor! We are almost done!" Hinata shouted as she rounded yet another corner and continued to run. The sand was still roaring loudly behind them. "At the end of this hall is another set of stairs!" She shouted before just a moment later she ran smack into a wall. She bounced backwards and fell onto her butt. Naruto and Lee did the same thing a moment later.

"What the hell? Where are the stairs?" Naruto's voice came out nasally, he had a feeling he had just shattered his nose.

"That's not possible! I know we took the right way!" Hinata didn't understand what was happening. Could the route have changed? But it was the same all the way up until now.

"The sand!" Lee shouted as he turned around. It was just a second away from smashing into them.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto created so many clones that they instantly got jammed together in the hallway and successfully made a barrier between them and the sand just in time. It smashed into his clones and wasn't able to continue any further.

"Good thinking, Naruto." Lee let out a breath of relief.

"My clones won't last long before the sand crushes them. We need to get out of here." Naruto stumbled back up to his feet.

"No, this isn't right!" Hinata suddenly shouted as she smashed her hand against the wall. "There isn't an exit here at all."

"Wait, so you're saying we're in a dead-end?" Naruto asked exasperated as he began feeling around at the walls. There wasn't an exit on any of the three remaining sides.

Hinata crumpled to her knees. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." She whispered. She had been so sure she had been leading them the right way.

"Hinata..." Naruto took a step towards her to comfort her and as he did he noticed the sand was beginning to leak through.

"Hey, do you guys hear that?" Lee said quietly. Both Naruto and Hinata quit moving.

"Yeah, it sounds like gears are turning…beneath us." All three of them went to move just a second too late. The floor opened and they all fell down into the mist.

* * *

"Oww…my head!" Naruto slowly stood up. "You guys okay?" Naruto looked around. He didn't hear anything. "Guys? Bushy Brow? Hinata?" Naruto felt around to see if they were still unconscious.

"Stay away from him!" Naruto jerked back suddenly. Who said that? It sounded familiar but it wasn't one of his teammates. Was someone else here?

"Don't get near my child! You demon!"

"Why are you even alive? Just die!"

"Give back my son!"

The voices started coming from everywhere. Some were just little whispers but others were practically shouts. Naruto realized all too well where they came from now. His past.

"Is that the kid? Yeah, he's the only one who didn't pass. Can you picture What would happen if they let that demon become a ninja!"

Naruto grit his teeth. "Shut up and say it to my face!"

"Naruto, you killed Iruka's parents! You're the Kyuubi no Yoko!"

"That's not true!" Naruto whirled around in the mist. No one was there.

"Run away! It's him!"

"Get out of my store you little thief!"

"Stop it!" He roared while covering his ears. "Just leave me alone!"

The sound of a window shattering could be heard. "That's what you get! Just leave already!"

Naruto hunched himself onto the ground. "Please, just stop! I don't want to hear this!"

"You have no friends! No one wants you!"

"You don't know what your talking about!" Naruto took his hands off his ears and stood back up. "I do have friends! I have people who care for me! People who love me!"

"Everyone thinks you should die."

"What do you know?" Naruto whispered to himself.

"You're a monster!"

"My life may have been crap at one point but it's different now." Naruto's eyes steeled as he faced the onslaught of voices.

"You are worthless." The voices were getting quieter.

"I have Guy-sensei who told me that he values my struggle to keep fighting."

"No one would care if you disappeared."

"Bushy Brow cried for me when he thought I was dying."

"You're all alone."

"Haku has shared a pain similar to mine. He understands me."

"No one loves you." They were barely louder than a whisper now.

"Hinata does. And I'm glad I found out. I couldn't ask for a better girlfriend!"

The voices stopped altogether. The room started shifting again and Naruto started feeling incredibly light headed. He slipped down to the floor and everything went white for a second.

"Naruto!"

"Naruto-kun!"

Naruto slowly opened his eyes. He was still in the mist. But Lee and Hinata were here now. "What happened? The sand!" He shot up to a sitting position.

"When we fell we got caught in a genjutsu. The sand did not follow us down." Lee explained. He and Hinata each grabbed one of Naruto's arms.

"A genjutsu, eh?" Naruto let them each pull him up.

"Are you okay, Naruto-kun?" The boy in question smiled at his girlfriend.

"Yeah. I'm just thinking about how I have such great friends." Hinata blushed lightly and smiled back.

"Hate to break this up, but we are on a time crunch here." Lee waved his hand to get their attention. "Hinata do you know how to get out of here?"

Hinata's smile dropped as she turned to Lee. "There are two doors on either side of this room."

"What, but which one is the right one?" Naruto looked back and forth. The mist down here wasn't nearly as thick and he could make out the doors on either end.

Hinata shook her head. "I don't know. That fall completely threw off my sense of direction."

"Well what happens if we pick the wrong door?" Naruto could just hear the clock ticking in his head.

"We probably fail and we might even die." Lee rubbed his chin as he also gazed between the two doors.

"That's bull. There's no logic to this last trick! It's just chance!" Naruto shouted.

"Zabuza did say luck was part of being a Shinobi. Maybe this is what he really meant." Lee turned his attention back to Hinata. "You've gotten us this far. Whatever door you choose, I'll follow behind you without hesitation."

"M-me?" Hinata stuttered for the first time in a long time.

"Bushy Brow is right! It's all up to you Hinata." Naruto also turned to her.

"But...I..." Hinata looked back between her teammates and the doors. Finally, a look of calm began to settle over her. "Alright, then I say we do this one." Hinata turned to her left and walked right for the door. Naruto and Lee followed her without question.

She grabbed onto the handle and looked at her teammates. When they gave her the nod, she swung the door open. Bright, light white poured into the room, destroying the mist and temporarily blinding the group. With their arms held in front of their eyes they walked forward...

...and out into the street. Just in front of them they saw a small group of Shinobi gathered in front of a podium.

"Did we make it?" Naruto asked as they started to approach a crowd of other shinobi who had passed.

"Ten seconds left until the last group's time has expired!" A voice shouted as if to answer Naruto's question.

"Group one! Over here!" They turned to see a chunin waving them over. They did as he asked. "Congratulations on passing the first exam. Is it Rock Lee, Hyuuga Hinata, and Uzumaki Naruto?" He peered at the three.

"That's us!" Lee said proudly as he grabbed onto his teammates shoulders.

"Alright, well you guys can go over there as you wait for the second exam to start." He gestured to the group of other shinobi who had passed.

"Alright! Yeah, we passed!" Naruto jumped for joy and started running towards the group.

"Hey, Naruto! Over here!" Choji shouted while waving his arms. Naruto made a straight beeline for Team Ten. Lee and Hinata of course followed him.

"Hey you guys passed too!" Naruto shouted as he ran up to the group.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ino huffed. "Of course we passed! All that extra work out your sensei has been giving Shikamaru hasn't been for nothing! We really would have been in trouble if he was in the shape he used to be in."

"Troublesome…" Was the lazy boy's only response.

"Okay, maggots! Time is up!" Zabuza once again stood in front of all the assembled participants. "You have all passed and will be moving onto the second part of the exam! Now before that, let me explain to you what this was really testing!"

"You mean luck wasn't all of it?" Came a sarcastic voice that sounded an awful lot like Kiba's.

"I can still fail your ass if I want, so watch it!" Zabuza retorted quickly. "Luck was a part of it. But it was also testing decisiveness, ability to use your senses, other than sight, and to see how well you deal with traps! It was also to test your self-esteem! Do you believe in yourself enough to push forward? Because if you don't believe in yourself, how can others believe in you?"

"That explains the genjutsu." Lee mumbled. Naruto could only nod in agreement. Lee and Hinata must have heard some pretty nasty things too. They all had gone through so much to prove themselves. Soon they would show the world their results.

"Now I shall begin explaining the Second Exam!"

"Isn't that my job, Zabuza-san?" The man in question turned an annoyed eye to his left as an ice mirror formed. Everyone stared in amazement as a boy stepped outside of it.

"Alright, seriously, what the hell?" Naruto roared.

"He's still a Genin for crying out loud!"


	15. The Forest of Death Part 1

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_The Forest of Death (Part 1)  
_

* * *

"This behind me is the Training Ground Forty-four. Better known as the Forest of Death." Haku gestured to the massive gates behind him. "It is in here that you will have to take the next part of your exam. Any questions?"

"Yeah, I got one!" Haku let out a tired sigh.

"What is your question, Naruto-san?"

The blond lowered the hand he had raised as Haku acknowledged him. "I'm not quite sure I understand how the whole forest behind that gate is covered in snow." What Naruto said happened to be the very question on most of the genins' minds. The Forest of Death was indeed covered in a deep layer of snow. Yet it was a warm summer day on their side of the fence.

Haku let out another sigh. "Are the means important? Instead of asking "how" you should be asking "why." This exam will test multiple things. The first being how you deal with different conditions. It is a possibility that as a Chunin you will be sent to a land with a very different climate than yours."

"Normally we would be made aware of where we are going and of the conditions. We don't have the gear necessary for this!" Sakura shouted form amongst the crowd.

"I was getting to that." Sakura slunk back in embarrassment. "You will not enter the forest until midnight tonight. That means that you all are expected to go out and buy the necessary equipment before than. Prepare enough for five days. That's how long you'll be in there."

"So what's the objective? Survive?" A random Ame Genin shouted.

Haku rubbed his temple in annoyance. "Must you all insist on interrupting me?" His question was met with silence. "Each team will receive one of two scrolls. Heaven and Earth. Your objective is to obtain them both and make it to a tower in the center of the forest. This is a competition against all your fellow peers."

"Wait a second! That means at best only half of us will pass!" Kiba shouted from his spot next to Sakura.

"That's right. Of the forty-eight teams that started the first exam, only a meager fifteen made it to this one. However, there are plenty of ways to fail here as well. If anyone in your team dies, if you open either one of your scrolls before reaching the tower, or if you don't make it within five days, you are out. Also bear in mind that some teams may try to collect multiple copies of scrolls."

Haku was finally met with silence as the crowd let his words sink in. "Show up back here at eleven. You will be assigned your scrolls then. Anyone late will be disqualified. Dismissed!" A mirror of ice formed behind Haku as he finished talking. As soon as he stepped inside, it shattered. He was nowhere to be seen.

"Well, I guess we better go and buy some snow clothes. We should hurry so we can beat the rush." Naruto said, already walking in the direction of the village.

"Yosh! Perhaps they will have white spandex so that I can blend in with the snow!" Everyone within earshot visibly shivered at the image.

* * *

"I knew there was a reason I didn't want to proctor for those exams." Zabuza said as he and Haku climbed the stairs to their apartment. Dusk was just setting in and they were just finally making it home, however, Haku had to head back to the forest in just a couple hours.

"Oh, and what was that?" Haku asked as he opened the door.

"Alright assholes! Start talking!" Naruto stood right in the doorway, as if he'd been waiting for them the whole time.

Zabuza gave Haku and meaningful look. "I rest my case." He then walked straight past the fuming blond and strolled over to his side of the apartment.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!" Naruto shouted after him.

"Hokage-sama just thought it would be a good way for us to get more involved in the village." Haku explained as he too walked past his friend.

"You make even less sense than him! At least he's a Jonin!" Naruto said as he started to follow them.

Haku sighed a turned around to face him. What he saw caused his face to light up in shock. "Naruto-san, get down!" He jumped forward and tackled his friend down just as sand pellets flew over where his head had just been.

"What the hell?" Naruto attempted to look at who just attacked him. Because of the way he was on the ground the vision was upside down. However, Naruto didn't have to switch it right to recognize that face. "Gaara…" He breathed out.

"Take this!" Zabuza roared as he ran into the room and swung his sword down onto where Gaara stood. To everyone's surprise, sand popped from his gourd and instantly deflected his sword which chopped right through the floor boards.

"Do not interfere." Gaara said in monotone. "My target is him."

Zabuza looked back at Naruto and then at the little redhead before him. "Look, I know he's annoying, but wait until tomorrow. You'll get a shot at him then."

"I want to kill him now." Gaara spoke almost hungrily now. There was a deep intensity in his eyes that frightened even Zabuza a little.

"If you kill anyone here, you'll be disqualified from the exams. Go home." Zabuza pulled his sword from the ground and hefted it gingerly onto his shoulders.

Gaara seemed to ponder the big man's words for a minute. "I will wait until tomorrow then." He turned around and began to walk out.

"Wait, Gaara!" Naruto shouted as he quickly stumbled to his feet. The redhead stopped moving but didn't turn around. Naruto took that as a good ahead. "Why do we have to kill each other? You said it yourself, we're the same. Doesn't that mean we understand each other? We should be on the same side if anything. We could probably be friends!"

Gaara stood there in silence. A full minute passed and Naruto was starting to wonder if we was even awake. "I have no need for friends." Gaara finally spoke. "The only one I need is myself. By killing you, who is like me, I will become more complete. I will become a greater existence than even now." Gaara then proceeded to walk out. Naruto could think of nothing to say to stop him.

"What a screwed up kid." Zabuza said as he began walking towards his room.

"And where do you think you're going! Did you see what you did to my floor?" Naruto shouted. Zabuza turned back to him. The blond was still trembling quite a bit, and even though he was still capable of yelling, his heart wasn't really in it.

"Take a nap, brat. You're in for a long week."

* * *

_Day One_

* * *

"I still can't believe you actually found some." Unfortunately for everyone that night, Lee did manage to find white spandex. His leg-warmers and belt were now a bright gray to match with it as well.

"Yosh! The shop knows exactly how to kindle my burning flames of youth! Nothing will be capable of stopping us now!" Despite it, Naruto couldn't help but smile at his best friend's attitude. Personally, he wanted to get the spandex too, but Hinata wasn't budging. He couldn't understand. She could've worn a set too.

Instead he settled for a outfit camouflaged completely by being white with other grey spots. Hinata herself, had fallen back to her old milky colored hoody and matching colored pants. All three had similar gloves and snowcaps on as well.

"Are the two of you sure you want me to hold onto the heaven scroll?" Hinata asked her teammates the same question she had been asking for the past five minutes.

"Of course! It is thanks to you we even got this far!" Naruto smiled brightly at her and patted her head lightly.

"You three are strangely relaxed. Although I guess I'm not surprised, it's just like you." All three turned to Haku as he walked up to them.

"What's up, Mr. Proctor?" Naruto smiled brightly at his friend.

"I'm just here to make sure you guys start on time." Haku looked behind them at the door that would let them inside.

"It must have taken a lot of chakra to be able to create this." Hinata observed aloud. "I was not aware your Kekkai Genkai also allowed you to create snow."

"To be honest, I wasn't either until shortly after I arrived in this village. As for the chakra, I had many other Shinobi lending me their chakra through a special seal system. We have similar seals set up all along the gate to keep the forest this way."

Naruto let out a low whistle. "I thought this was a little out of place here. So much for having any kind of home field advantage."

"Naruto-san…"

"Yeah, what's up?" Naruto turned to see Haku giving him a look that meant he just said something dumb.

"You're aware that snow is made up of water right? You have a huge advantage here." Haku gestured to the inside.

Naruto turned his attention back to the forest, his eyes shining like he just received an early Christmas present. "No way! That kicks so much ass!"

Haku dropped his face into his hands. Just then a watch on his hand started beeping. Everyone turned their attention to it. "You have ten seconds."

"Right, thank you, Haku-kun. Be sure to watch us youthfully pass this exam!" The gates swung open just as Lee finished talking. All three of them wasted no time in running in.

"I'll see it better than you think!" Haku called after them as the gates swung back closed.

"What do you think he meant by that?" Naruto yelled as he and his teammates leapt up into the trees.

"There are probably cameras hidden throughout the whole forest or something!" Was Lee's response as he landed on his first branch.

"I don't think that's it! I can't see any! Knowing Haku-san though, he has a way!" Hinata's Byakugan was active and already scanning the trees. "What's our plan?"

"Let's go deeper into the forest for now! If we're lucky we'll run into someone right away! I doubt anything will happen so early though!" All three continued on their way deeper into the forest.

* * *

"Man, how boring! We've been in here for a couple hours already and not a single person as come after us!" Tenten landed nimbly on the ground floor next to her two teammates. "Are you guys sure you haven't seen anyone? What good are those eyes if you can't find a least a single ninja?"

"You are so noisy. My eyes aren't any good at detecting people. When they're within Neji's range we'll know it. Until then just be quiet. Talking will only give us away." Sasuke continued pacing back and forth. Neji sat cross-legged in the snow. He hadn't moved since they had picked that spot to stay.

"Well maybe I want to give us away! I mean seriously! I want to get out of this cold as fast as possible!" Sasuke stopped pacing to glare at his only female teammate.

"Quit being such a child! You're a year older than me for crying out loud!"

"What the hell…is that?" Both arguing teammates stopped and turned their attention to Neji who was quickly getting to his feet.

"What is it Neji? What do you see?" Tenten spun around to see if she could spot it. She then paused as she felt something. Was the ground shaking?

"I've never seen a creature that big before. We have to move! Now!" Neji jumped skywards.

"Wait a second, Neji! What do you see?" Sasuke looked up to where his teammate had jumped.

"Snake!" Tenten screamed.

"Wha-" Sasuke got no farther as Tenten grabbed him by the collar and jumped upwards. They both narrowly dodged out of the way as a humongous snake bowled over the spot they were just at. Without pausing the snake quickly began to coil itself around the tree in pursuit of its targets.

"What the hell? Does that thing live in this forest?" Sasuke asked as Tenten set him down onto a branch.

"Not likely." She answered. "Do you see the way it's moving? It's specifically targeting us. Someone is commanding it."

"Who's capable of doing something like that?" Sasuke looked back and forth between his two older teammates.

"Not someone of the Genin level." Neji replied stoically. "We need to kill it fast before its owner shows up. Whoever sent it after us isn't within range of my vision yet."

"Right! One of you distract it, I got just the tool!" Tenten pulled out one of her scrolls.

"Here it comes!" Sasuke called. He jumped down from the branch. Neji and Tenten both jumped skywards. The snake looked up and down as it decided which group to go after.

"Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!" The snake's mind was quickly made up as several fireballs slammed into it from below. "Tenten, hurry it up!" Sasuke screamed as the snake descended quickly after him.

"I know already!" Tenten ran down the tree as quickly as she could. "Take this!" She jumped from the tree and swung her unraveled scroll. A spiked ball flew from it and slammed into the snakes head.

Sasuke dove out of the way as the snake veered out of control and slammed into the ground. Moving quickly, he joined Tenten on the side of the tree. "And what was that supposed to do exactly?"

"And you call me impatient." Just as she spoke those words the ball detonated. The snake was quickly engulfed in a massive explosion as pieces of it flew all over. The snow in the area was quickly dyed red with its blood.

"Alright, now let's get out of here fast." A dark chuckle suddenly caused both of them to spin around.

"I'm afraid that leaving will not be an option for the two of you." Said a female ninja with a Kusa headband. "You see, I'm not sure I like what you just did to my cute little pet."

Sasuke sneered. "Don't act like you're the innocent one here. You sent it after us."

"Now now, Sasuke-kun. Is that anyway to talk to someone? Hmm?" Tenten and Sasuke's eyes widened.

"How do you know my name?"

"Oh you could call it a hobby of mine. Now if you'll excuse me for a moment. I have a pest problem to deal with." Without missing a beat the kunoichi spun her upper body around and caught Neji's outstretched arm. "How rude of you, trying to interrupt our conversation."

"Can it!" Tenten appeared behind her opponent now, a Wakizashi poised to cut her head off. The legs of the Kunoichi, still facing Tenten, sprung into action, landing a powerful kick into her stomach and sending her flying downwards.

As soon as the kick connected Neji released his foothold on the tree and launched his own kick. The Kusa ninja easily stepped out of the way and in one fluid motion spun her top back on straight and hurled him down towards Tenten.

"Your turn!" She charged Sasuke who immediately dove sideways to the nearest tree. The second he hit it he jumped upwards, grabbed the branch he was beneath and spun himself to the top. Without pausing to see if she had followed he ran through a set of hand seals.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu" He fired a giant ball of fire straight forward just as she flipped up onto the branch. With a shrill shriek she was set ablaze and fell backwards off the tree.

He then ducked low as a fist flew over where his head should have been. Spinning around he brought his foot in for a low kick. The Kunoichi shouldn't have been able to stop it, however her arm bent at an odd angle and grabbed his foot easily.

"Excellent. Most excellent, Sasuke-kun. Seeing through my mud clone must have been child's play for you even without your Sharingan active." Her free hand slammed into Sasuke's stomach. "However, you'll find you may need it to keep up with me."

Sasuke let out a dry smirk as the Kunoichi's hand sank into his body. "What?" The answer came a second later as Sasuke dissolved into mud, revealing an explosive tag strapped onto his body. Another second later and it exploded.

The real Sasuke stepped around the side of the tree, his Sharingan active. "You may find that you're no match for me when I use it."

"That's what I like to see." Sasuke instinctively took a step back, for less than an inch from his face was his enemy.

"What the-when did you…?" The Kunoichi chuckled in response.

"This is no time to be surprised, Sasuke-kun. You've shown me what you can do with ninjutsu, now I want to see your taijutsu." She rose up her hand a beckoned him forward.

Before Sasuke could even move, a set of kunai flew into the tree around the Kunoichi. They all exploded. "You're hurting our feelings, ignoring us like that!" Tenten yelled from a nearby tree.

Sasuke watched as the Kusa ninja seemly rose out of the ground behind his teammate. "Tenten, behind you!"

Too late, the ninja struck. However, to Sasuke's surprise, Tenten fluidly ducked, grabbed the enemies arm, and stuck back…with an open palm.

The Kunoichi bent over slightly and coughed up blood. "Ah, I see. I was careless." She wiped some of the blood off her lower lip. "You two have been working together for a long time now, that swap was perfect." Tenten popped into a cloud of smoke and Neji stood in her place.

Without wasting another second he pulled his palm back and swung his other one forward. The Kunoichi knocked this blow aside and sent a spinning kick aimed to Neji's head who intercepted the blow with his forearm. Knocking her leg back Neji pressed on the attack.

Sasuke scanned the scene for another second before smirking. "I see, you threw the kunai and then immediately hid. Neji stood there henged as you so the enemy thought he was you."

"You guys take all the fun out of the surprises." Tenten said as she landed next to him. "You going to be okay?"

"Yeah, but shouldn't we help Neji out now?" Tenten shook her head.

"If it's taijutsu we'll only get in his way. You and I are going to act as ranged support in case the enemy tries to put distance between herself and Neji." Sasuke could only nod to the plan as he watched the fight unfold.

"You are most skilled." The Kunoichi chuckled as she dodged and weaved her way around another set of palm strikes. "It's been a long time since I've seen a Genin with as much raw talent as you. Perhaps I should come after you instead of Sasuke-kun." Neji halted for a split second before he continued on with his assault, not something missed by his opponent.

"Oh? You must be wondering why I'm after Sasuke-kun to begin with, aren't you?" She jumped up over Neji's sweeping kick. "Well how about I tell you? You see…I'm interested in his eyes." Without warning the Kunoichi suddenly struck, landing a powerful punch into Neji's chest and knocking him back several feet. "Your Byakugan pales in comparison to such strong eyes."

Neji stumbled slightly and nearly lost his balance. He then managed a low chuckle. "You are a fool."

"Oh. It speaks…" She taunted.

Neji ignored her and kept talking. "You want the Sharingan? Well then you're out of luck. Even if you can acquire them they will never reach their full caliber. No, your fate was sealed the moment you were conceived as something other than a Uchiha."

The Kunoichi said nothing but Neji could feel her glare burning into him. "And there's one more thing." He said while crouching low and spreading his hands out.

"And what would that be?" All good humor had left the Kunoichi's voice.

"You're within range of my divination." Neji sprung forward and struck before the Kunoichi even had a chance to move.

"Two strikes!" She stumbled back.

"Four strikes!" Neji pressed forward.

"Eight strikes!" The pace of his attack sped up.

"Sixteen strikes!" The Kunoichi could do nothing as Neji assaulted her chakra points.

"Thirty-two strikes!" His hands became little more than a blur as he struck time and time again.

"Sixty-four strikes!" He delivered the final blow and without the ability to produce chakra, the Kunoichi lost her footing on the trunk of the tree and fell forward. She crashed painfully on a branch some thirty feet below.

Neji jumped down and landed next to his opponent. "You will never acquire the Sharingan eyes. Instead you'll die right here. This is your fate."

The Kunoichi surprised Neji by letting out a small chuckle that was different from the ones before. This one sounded like it belonged to a man. "What a cruel technique. I actually lost all control of the chakra in this woman's body. Oh well, I guess this just means it is time to shed my skin."

The body gave a slight jerk. Then another. Soon the whole body was convulsing wildly. Neji stepped back in alarm as he watched something begin to slide out of the mouth of the women he'd just put down. "What the hell are you?"

"How rude." Responded the man's voice again. "Didn't they teach you manners at the academy? You should be asking me my name." A sickly pale looking man rose up from the body of the woman. "However, as a reward for doing so well, I'll tell you it anyway."

The man opened his mouth and his tongue pulled out a sword. He caught it with his hand and before Neji could even react he struck.

"I am Orochimaru. The Snake Sannin" The pale man said as Neji fell forward, his blood quickly spilling all over the branch they were on. "Do not worry. I left that cut light enough for you to be able to survive. I need your team to pass after all. Besides, now you can watch me have my fun with Sasuke-kun and the girl. Just think of it as your fate." With that said, the sannin vanished from his spot.

"Neji!" Tenten screamed. Before she made even a slight step, Orochimaru appeared in front of her, his sword still drawn. "You bastard!" Tenten pulled out the wakizashi she had used earlier and struck. Orochimaru easily blocked the strike. He then flicked it away and spun around. Before Tenten could make another move, the hilt of the sword slammed into the back of her head.

She stumbled forward slightly, and then fell off the branch they were on completely. "Tenten!" Sasuke moved to jump after her but a powerful kick slammed him against the trunk of a tree.

"Fear not Sasuke-kun. She will only fall for a little ways. She'll probably break a couple bones when she hits the branch beneath her, but she'll live." Orochimaru spoke as he casually approached his prey.

"Why are you doing this? You're not a Genin. What do you gain from taking this exam?" Sasuke leaned up against the trunk of the tree. The kick had really knocked the wind out of him.

"You're right. I'm not a Genin. But believe me, I get something out of this." Orochimaru smiled evilly, revealing his snake like fangs. "Now come here, Sasuke-kun. Just one little bite and this'll all be over."

"I'm afraid I cannot let you do that." Orochimaru spun around quickly and brought his sword up just in time. A katana met his sword with a loud clang.

"Oh, why if it isn't the Genin proctor. What are you doing here interfering with the exams? This isn't a show of favoritism is it?" He grinned innocently at Haku as they both retracted their swords and stepped back several feet.

"Drop the act. I've heard everything that you've said, Orochimaru." The Sannin's smile instantly dropped from his face.

"That's interesting. I didn't notice any cameras in here. Perhaps Konoha found a new way to monitor people?" Orochimaru's eyes widened as Haku seemly disappeared into thin air. He brought his sword up and blocked another katana strike from his right. He then knocked Haku back and took a swing at him. Haku rolled out of the way. He then ran towards Sasuke.

"Sasuke-san, grab onto me and hold on tight." Haku snatched a hold of Sasuke's collar and dove at the tree.

"What're you doing?" Sasuke knocked himself loose before they crashed straight into the solid trunk. To his surprise, Haku seemed to vanish through it. "What the hell?"

"I see it now." Orochimaru looked around the forest suspiciously. "This whole forest is littered in those ice mirrors you use to get around."

"Correct." Haku shouted from above his opponent. He swung his sword down and Orochimaru easily blocked it again. "The second you all entered this forest, you entered my jutsu. When in the mirrors I can see and hear everything that is going on." Orochimaru knocked his sword back and struck, only for Haku to vanish again. This time though Orochimaru struck down into the mirror Haku had gone through, shattering it.

"That is an impressive sword if it is capable of breaking one of my mirrors." Orochimaru turned around to see Haku standing next to Sasuke again. "I must apologize but I will be moving Sasuke-san out of the area as I have already done with his teammates."

"Don't think I'll let you!" Orochimaru ran quickly trough a set of seals. "Katon: Goenkyu no Jutsu!" He inhaled a spit a small orb of fire.

"A flame so small will do little against my technique." Haku rose his hand and water rushed to meet the orb.

"You idiot, we got to move!" Sasuke tackled Haku off the branch and out of the way of the technique.

"What are you doing?" Haku yelled as they plummeted.

"You don't understand! That techinque-" Sasuke was interrupted as a loud bang was heard. They both looked upwards to see what was once the little orb, expanding massively.

"I see, it explodes." Haku observed nonchalantly. "Hang on tight, Sasuke-san, this is going to get nasty." Haku ran through several one handed seals.

* * *

"What the hell is that?" Naruto said as he felt a massive heat wave wash over them.

"I don't know, but it sounds like a massive explosion just went off." Lee answered. They were all looking in the direction that the explosion had just come from.

"Should we check it out?" Hinata looked to Lee who shook his head.

"Hmm...should we flip a coin for it?" Lee asked as he pulled one out. Hinata dropped her head in shame but Naruto's face lit up.

"Heads means we go for it!" The blond shouted excitedly.

"Right!" Lee flicked the coin and it went flying before vanishing into the brush. The three of them sat in complete silence for a full half a minute before it came back down and Lee caught it expertly.

"And the coin says..." He placed it on the backside of his hand and all three of them looked at the outcome.

* * *

"What a powerful technique." Haku stumbled upwards and looked around. They now stood in a huge crater. All around them, whole trees had been disintegrated. He was covered in many nasty burns himself.

"How can you be so nonchalant about this?" Sasuke slowly rose to his feet. Haku looked him up and down. He was badly burnt too in many places. All of his winter clothing had been completely seared off and his body was littered with numerous blisters.

"I can be nonchalant because we survived." Haku began inspecting his sword. It didn't look like it had been hurt at all.

"How did we survive? I mean, what did you do?" Sasuke asked curiously.

"It was most impressive." Both Genin whirled around. Orochimaru stood there smiling evilly. "He formed an orb around you which quickly solidified to ice. Normally that would have just melted but he kept a constant stream of water flowing into it. The only time you got burnt was at the very end, when what was left of the water evaporated. What a handy Kekkei Genkai. Konoha sure has found an interesting new specimen."

Haku held his katana up and stood directly in between Sasuke and the evil Sannin. "Oh, and what do you plan to do here? You have no ice mirrors around, and the air here is still quite dry. I doubt you could make any more even if you wanted. Just hand Sasuke over to me like a good little proctor."

"I will not! You are making a grave error if you think Gekkei Kenkai's are the only way someone is capable of fighting."

"Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!" Sasuke fired off a series of fireballs. He then grabbed Haku's arm and started pulling him away from Orochimaru.

"What are you doing?" Haku asked. Just then he heard a group of explosions.

"I hid kunai with exploding tags in the fireballs. We need to make a break for your mirrors. It's our only chance." Orochimaru appeared in front of them before he even finished talking.

"Not so fast there, Sasuke-kun. Your eyes will be mine!" Orochimaru stepped forward.

"Get away!" Sasuke jumped in the air and delivered a powerful kick to the Sannin's face. He disappeared in a poof of smoke. "Damn, a shadow clone!"

Haku spun around a knocked Orochimaru's sword strike away. "A sneak attack. As expected by one like yourself."

"You shouldn't talk, brat!" Orochimaru swung his sword forward as did Haku. Several clangs erupted.

A sound of chirping birds suddenly filled the air. "Impossible, that technique is…" Orochimaru spun to see Sasuke charging him with a blade of electricity in his hand.

Haku took advantage of the Sannin's momentary surprise and knocked his sword out of the way. "Chidori!" Sasuke roared as he plunged his hand through the Sannin's chest.

All time seemed to freeze as the three stood there. The only noise was Sasuke's chidori as it started to fade. Finally, Sasuke broke the silence. "Damn you…you managed to deflect my strike so it only hit your upper shoulder."

Orochimaru let out a dark laugh. "That's right. Truthfully, I could have dodged it all together but now I have you right where I want you." He quickly grabbed onto Sasuke's arms with an iron grip.

"What? Let me go damn it!" Sasuke pulled and struggled but he couldn't get free.

"It'll be over in just a second." Orochimaru opened his mouth wide.

"Don't think I'll let you!" Haku swung his sword right into Orochimaru's open mouth. The Sannin bit down hard and shattered the sword. His neck then grew incredibly long and he head butted Haku right in the nose. The boy could do nothing as he fell to the ground in pain.

Orochimaru's neck retracted and he opened his mouth wide. "Now...Sasuke-kun, you're mine!" Just before he was able to bite down the sound of footsteps fast approaching caused the Sannin's eyes to go wide. Sasuke felt the palm of someone touching his back and a surge of energy shot through him as a Jyuuken strike harmlessly bypassed his organs. The Snake sannin wasn't so fortunate as the brutal attack smashed into his innards. His open mouth sprayed blood that rained down on Sasuke's neck and and shoulder.

"Double Leaf Whirlwind!" Before Sasuke was able to figure out what happened, Naruto and Lee both appeared as they delivered a powerful spinning kick; Naruto from the front and Lee in the back. Their feet collided at Orochimaru's neck, popping it clean off and sending it flying into the air while spraying blood everywhere.

Sasuke easily pulled away from the headless corpse. "You guys..." He whispered in surprise. He then spun around and was shocked to see it was Hinata that had performed such an advanced Jyuuken strike and not Neji.

"What's up, Sasuke-chan?" Naruto laughed as he extended his hand to help Sasuke to his feet.

"Naruto! It is not over!" Lee shouted suddenly. Naruto spun and to his surprise, a dozen tiny snakes had shot out from Orochimaru's neck and head and had attached together. They pulled tight and Orochimaru's head was reattached backwards.

"Well well. More pests show up. You three wish to be slaughtered as well?" The Snake Sannin chuckled as he grabbed ahold of his head and with a sickening sound he turned it straight-forward. "I must admit I am impressed by that technique of yours. Could it have perhaps been inspired by Kumogakure's Double Lariat technique?"

"Who the hell is this guy?" Naruto had a disgusted expression on his face as he reached for his chakra knives.

"You idiots, we have to get out of here!" Sasuke said as he stumbled to his feet.

"Not a chance. We never run from a fight and this guy must have a scroll."

"Oh, you mean this?" Orochimaru asked as he pulled one out a heaven scroll. "If you want it so bad come and get it." The Sannin opened his mouth wide and then did something even more disgusting. He wrapped his tongue around it and choked it down.

"What a sicko..." Naruto had just about seen enough.

"Naruto-san. Lee-san. Hinata-san. We need to get out of here. You no longer have a reason to fight. He ate the scroll." Haku got to his feet as well while holding what looked like a broken nose. Suddenly his face lit up as an idea hit him. "The scrolls..."

"We do have a reason to fight though. He hurt our friend." Lee said adamantly as he smiled at Haku, apparently missing what Haku had mumbled.

"That's right! No one gets away with that!" Naruto gave him the thumbs up.

Hinata nodded firmly to show her agreement. They weren't backing down.

"How chivalrous." The Sannin chuckled. "Now then, who would like to fight me first?" He asked as he reached into his mouth and pulled his sword out. The gouge in his left shoulder was bleeding badly but he didn't seem to mind.

"How about me?" Naruto was already on the Snake Sannin, swinging his chakra blades. Orochimaru easily blocked his strike with his sword. "What the heck?" Naruto shouted in surprise. He had no idea there was a sword out there capable of deflecting his blades of wind. Naruto didn't get to think anymore on this as the wind was knocked out of his when the Sannin kneed him in the stomach.

Lee charged next but the Sannin easily bypassed him and now stood right in front of Hinata. "I figured I owe you one for that attack earlier." He sneered as he brought his sword straight down towards her head. Hinata jumped backwards and dodged the attack with ease. Orochimaru's body then suddenly inflated for a split second before he shot a powerful blast of wind.

"A fuuton without any seals?" Hinata asked in shock as she was suddenly blast backwards and sent to the complete other end of the clearing.

"You bastard!" Naruto shouted as he and Lee reengaged the Sannin. However, they were both beginning to understand and terribly outmatched they truly were.

Haku's mind was running in overload as he watched his friends battle. He needed to get the scrolls. And if he remembered right, Hinata had the heaven scroll while Sasuke in front of him had the earth scroll. "Sasuke-san...I apologize for this but I need your scroll." Haku said as he reached in a snagged it before Sasuke could say anything.

"Hmm...what are you doing?" Orochimaru noticed the movement despite being locked in battle with both Naruto and Lee. He slipped past them and took a step towards Haku.

"Not so fast!" They both shouted as Naruto swung his chakra knives and Lee his nunchaku. Orochimaru easily blocked both of them. Haku didn't waste another moment and quickly dashed towards Hinata in a mad sprint.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Sasuke said as he ran after him in a hurry.

Orochimaru sneered as he watched them sprint off. He didn't know what they were planning but he had no intention of letting them pull it off. "Get out of my way!" Orochimaru shouted as he swung his sword in a powerful horizontal swing. Naruto's blades easily stopped it.

"You won't make it past us! We are the fastest Genin in Konoha!" Lee said as he swung his nunchaku at the Sannin's head.

Orochimaru dodged backwards and then easily stepped passed them yet again. "I'm a Sannin! You don't have a chance against me!"

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Three Naruto's appeared right in Orochimaru's way.

"You brats..."

"Hinata-san! Your scroll! I need your scroll!" Haku shouted at the top of his lungs as he continued to sprint towards Hinata. He was almost to her now.

Hinata looked confused as she slowly pulled her scroll out. "You think I'll let you?" Orochimaru shouted as he appeared between the two of them. He had finally broken past Naruto and Lee. "I'm growing sick of all these games. I'm going to kill you four and then Sasuke-kun will be mine! Orochimaru roared in anger as he swung down at Haku.

Haku closed his eyes and waited for the blow but it never came. He looked up in surprise and saw the shimmer of air that meant Naruto's chakra blade was extended. He turned and saw even from far back Naruto had managed to block that strike. "Nice going, Naruto-san." Haku whispered thankfully.

"What a tenacious group..." Orochimaru sneered in anger as he knocked Naruto's wind blade to the side. Before he could do anything else the heaven scroll flew over his head and Haku snatched it. "I thought I said enough!" Orochimaru roared as he swung his sword downwards again.

"Someone help us!" Haku screamed at the top of his lungs as he unfurled both scrolls in a cross in front of himself. A cloud of smoke appeared and a loud clapping noise appeared as someone caught Orochimaru's blade before it could strike Haku.

The smoke slowly began to clear and everyone's faces brightened as a tall man in green spandex with a shining smile was revealed.

"You..." Orochimaru sneered at the man who was smiling eerily at him.

"Guy-sensei!" All of Guy's students shouted in joy.

"Hello my youthful students! You all seem to be in a bind already!" Guy yelled as he pulled down on Orochimaru's sword while bringing his leg up. He delivered a kick so powerful that Orochimaru was sent flying deep into the forest. "Leave everything to me!" He said brightly as he turned to them and gave them all a thumbs up.

"Right!" Naruto, Hinata and Lee said instantly. They had no fear their of their sensei losing.

"Quickly, follow me!" Haku said as he began running in the other direction. All four Genin quickly began to take off after him. As they got farther away, Guy let the huge smile he had on slip away.

"This isn't going to be easy..." He sighed as he rubbed his head and turned back towards the forest that a very angry looking Orochimaru was walking out of.

"Normally I wouldn't bother taking my time trying to fight someone like you, but I'm in a very bad mood right now so I'll make an exception." Orochimaru sneered as he struck the sword he had been holding into the ground.

"You must have been careless if someone of your stature got injured just by fighting a group of Genin. Then again, my students are pretty great..." Guy rubbed his chin and smiled as he thought about his students.

"You can't seriously think you are capable of beating me? A man who rely's only on Taijutsu doesn't stand a chance." Orochimaru ran through a set of seals in the blink of an eye. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" He breathed out a powerful fireball that sailed at Guy with great speed.

Guy settled into his stance and to Orochimaru's surprise, punched the fireball with such strengh that it instantly extinguished. No humor was left on Guy's face at all. "You ruined this exam for those young students. As a Jonin-Sensei of this village, I'll punish you for taking away what should have been a memorable experience in their youth."

Orochimaru sneered. He didn't want to admit it but he had wasted a lot of pointless chakra fighting all those Genin. He had no doubt he could still win but things were probably going to get gritty and he would probably have to wait awhile before going after Sasuke again. All the same, he had no intention of letting the man in front of him walk away in hopes of preserving his own health. After all, this man got in the way of his prey and that was unforgivable.

"Seeming as you are a Sannin, I have no reason to hold back." Guy said as he slipped into a wider stance. "First Gate: Open!"

Orochimaru formed another group of seals. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" He slammed his palm on the ground and a giant snake appeared coiled around him.

"You think that will protect you?" Guy vanished and reappeared in front of the snake and delivered a kick so powerful that it instantly popped out of existence. Orochimaru's body was still in the same spot but something was severely wrong. His mouth had been yanked wide open as if something massive had crawled out of it and the body now lay motionless on the ground.

Guy instinctively took a step back and it was lucky he did. If he had remained in the same spot a moment longer, than a perfectly healed Orochimaru would have cut him clean in half with his sword. "I see you molted to repair your injuries. That must take quite a lot of chakra." Guy observed aloud.

"Are you sure you have time to be making those remarks? I am a Sannin. You have no chance of beating me!" Orochimaru lunged forward and swung his sword. Guy took a quick step back and managed to dodge the blade. Without even giving him a chance to counter-attack, Orochimaru stepped in again while swinging his sword.

"Second Gate: Open!" With an increased burst of speed thanks to the gate, Guy barely managed to dodge this time. "As expected of yourself. Even with one gate open I cannot keep up with you." Guy touched down and launched towards the Sannin, throwing a powerful punch as he did.

Orochimaru blocked the strike easily. "Not just one gate but even after two I am far superior!" Orochimaru shouted as he shoved Guy's fist back. He then swung his sword and smiled cruelly as it slashed into Guy's torso...only for him to vanish just a moment later. "An afterimage?" The fifty years of experience as a Shinobi took over and Orochimaru jumped backwards, just barely dodging Guy's kick from below aimed at his chin.

"I guess I'll just step it up another notch!" Guy yelled as another surge of power boomed from his body. "Third Gate: Open!" A moment later and he vanished again. He appeared behind Orochimaru already in the midst of a spinning kick. "Konoha Senpu!" His attack blasted Orochimaru into pieces of mud and Guy realized too late he had been fooled as he saw tiny flicks of paper hidden in the mud. A giant explosion set off that seemly engulfed the youth-obsessed man.

Orochimaru stepped out from behind the tree he had hid behind. "For three gates even I have to use my incredibly drained chakra on Ninjutsu. Fortunately, it didn't take a whole lot of it to win."

"That's what you think." Orochimaru wasn't able to dodge in time as Guy's fist smashed into the back of his head, launching him forward and bouncing his body back into the crater he had created.

"Fast...you must have opened the fourth gate as well that time." Orochimaru sneered as he got up and turned to face his enemy only to realize he wasn't there anymore. He once again rolled backwards just in time as Guy's foot smashed into the ground, sending massive pieces of debris flying everywhere.

"That's right." Guy picked his foot up out of the miniature crater he just made. Energy was visibly swirling around him now and his skin was starting to grow redder in complexion as his blood pumped at amazing speeds.

"Guess you leave me no choice then." Orochimaru sneered as formed the ram seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" A single clone appeared next to the Sannin and they both began running through more seals. "Lets see you get out of a Fuuton and Katon combination!" They both shouted as one exhaled a blast of fire while the other exhaled a blast of wind. The two attacks combined together to form a giant twisting torrent of fire.

"Fifth Gate: Open!" Guy, instead of going around the firestorm, charged headfirst into it at such speeds that he actually blasted a whole straight to both Orochimarus.

"Impossible!" The one shouted as Guy cocked his fist back.

"That word isn't in my vocabulary! Ura Renge!" He delivered a punch so powerful that a massive shockwave followed it. Unfortunately, the one he attacked had been the Shadow Clone.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Orochimaru slammed his palms on the ground, summoning six giant snakes this time. They all began to slither at the spandex-clad man.

"Sixth Gate: Open!" Guy roared as he kicked off the ground so hard that it splintered apart. He ended up so high in the air he was level with the tree line. The snakes looked up in baited anticipation as they waited for him to couple down. "Take this! Asa Kujaka!" Guy began to pump his fists at incredible speeds and with each punch he rained down a ball of fire that smashed into the snakes. After only a few moments of this deadly barrage they were forced to unsummon.

"You would go this far against me? You, an inferior Shinobi who uses no Ninjutsu at all?" Orochimaru couldn't believe someone had the audacity to challenge him like this.

"I told you! Your acts have spoiled the exam for these Genin! I cannot allow that to go unpunished!" Guy crossed his arms as he continued to fall, green energy began to leak out of every pour on his body as he went yet another step further. "Seventh Gate: Open!"

Orochimaru smirked. He had been waiting for this. The only thing he had to do was dodge this next attack and then Guy would be too weak to continue the battle any farther. "This battle is mine..."

Guy cocked his fist back as he began to charge his ultimate attack. The green energy swirled magnificently behind him and took the shape of a tiger head. "Here goes nothing, Hirudora!" He shouted at the top of his lungs as he swung his fist forward. The giant tiger head appeared to roar as it began descending towards the forest floor.

"Now!" Orochimaru said as he began to form a set of seals to swap himself with a log. He never finished as he felt two hands grab onto either ankle. A moment later and everything but the Sannin's head was in the ground and he could no longer finish the seals due to the restricted movement. He looked up in anger to see who would dare do this to him but what he saw shocked him.

Kabuto stood in front of his master, an evil smile on his face and one hand pushing the frames of his glasses up just right so the green energy reflected off of it, making his eyes invisible. "Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu...success. Have a fun trip in the afterlife..."

"...Orichimaru-_sama_."

"You bastard!" The Sannin realized just now that he had let his surprise cost him. The once giant tiger was now small and compact, but worse it was just a few meters above him. "Howl my youth!" Guy yelled as his attack detonated. Orochimaru could only watch as Kabuto's shadow clone popped, leaving him to be engulfed in the attack.

The explosion from Guy's attack was so massive that it doubled the size of the crater they had already been fighting in and all the trees in the immediate vicinity were bowled over with loud crashes. The shockwave kept Guy well afloat until the attack finnaly ceased and he landed heavily on the ground. The green energy around him still shining brightly.

"You...you think this is over?" Orochimaru's body lay twisted and crippled on the ground. A pool of blood had already formed beneath his body. Guy merely looked down at him silently. "You may have killed me..." Orochimaru coughed and blood went flying. His breath was hard and ragged and his voice was barely more than a whisper. "...but this wasn't your victory. I'll come back, and this village...it will burn to the ground!" Orochimaru attempted to lean forward but he failed miserably. Moments later, his breathing finally stopped.

Guy looked down with many mixed emotions at the corpse that had once been Orochimaru. He had done it, killed someone trained by the Hokage himself. It wasn't alone though. The Genin that had all battled him before had managed to do incredibly well. There was also that person that had just shown up. The same person that was slowly approaching, while clapping his hands in a slow, loud manner.

"That was an incredible attack, Sensei." The silver-haired man said as he slowly walked up to the body.

Guy eyed him carefully for a few moments in silence. Something wasn't right about this kid. He didn't bother to show his suspicion. Instead he put his hands on his hips and laughed loudly. "I appreciate your help. What is your name? I would like to give credit to you as well for having been apart of this great victory for the village!" He extended a thumbs up to the Genin.

"Yakushi Kabuto. I am just honored to have been of service." The Genin said as he bowed low to the man.

"Kabuto-kun. Please do not find this rude, but I have but a few mere moments left before my energy runs out. I must use it to go report to Hokage-sama at once." Guy said as he turned around.

"Oh no, please hurry. I am sure he will be most excited by this news." Kabuto smiled happily at Guy.

The youthful man nodded as he vanished. He wasn't sure how he knew it, but something about that kid was trouble.

Kabuto's smile slowly transformed to one of pure evil as he walked forward. "You won't be needing this." He said as he reached down into Orochimaru's open body and pulled the bloody scroll free. "Unfortunately, this gives me two heaven scrolls." Kabuto sighed as he pocketed it. "Oh yes, I just realized...I'm the leader of Otogakure now." Kabuto's evil grin remained plastered on his face.

"Time to really shake things up."


	16. The Forest of Death Part 2

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_The Forest of Death (Part 2)  
_

* * *

Sasuke, Hinata, Naruto and Lee all sat cozily inside of an igloo that Haku had made for himself as his main base of operations. An unconscious Neji and Tenten also lay in the small circular room. Things had been quiet for awhile since Haku had vanished. They were hoping he would come back soon with a report on Guy-sensei.

Finally, after what felt like hours of waiting, though it had actually only been minutes, Haku returned through a mirror of ice located in the top of the igloo.

"So, so? Did he beat that snake bastard good?" Naruto asked excitedly.

Haku smiled brightly and gave them the thumbs up. "Situation handled."

"I knew he would do it!" Lee pumped his fist triumphantly. Neji and Tenten both stirred slightly but neither of them got up.

"Perhaps we should keep it down for them?" Hinata whispered. Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"So what happens now?" Sasuke asked after a few moments of silence. "Surely my team will be compensated or given a handicap for this."

Haku shook his head sadly. "As it happens, there is an article pertaining exactly to this type of situation in the Chunin Exam Guidebook I had to read before I could proctor. It states that while it is unfortunate, it is considered just bad luck and on the field bad luck can sometimes happen. The fact that we survived by managing to call outside help just happened to be good luck. That's the way the rules look at it."

"Tch, how stupid." Sasuke already wasn't liking this exam and they had only been here for a few hours. "Well, at the very least give me my scroll back."

"You still have ours too." Naruto quickly added.

Haku scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "About that..."

"Are you freaking kidding me?" Sasuke yelled as he slammed his hand on the ground. "Why the hell not?"

"Let me explain." Haku held his hands in front of himself in defense. "The scrolls have a one time charge. Once you open it, the seal is completed and can't be used again. The scrolls you had are now useless."

"You can get us new ones though, right?" Naruto asked hopefully. The look on Haku's face told him he wasn't going to like the answer.

"We prepare the scrolls specifically for the exam depending on the number of people that pass. Not even I can get at the remaining scrolls. Unfortunately, it comes down to the same thing as before. I'm sorry."

"Do not worry about. We might not have survived if not for your quick thinking." Lee stared at the ceiling of the igloo. "What about that guy? He had a heaven scroll."

"Another contestant took it after aiding your Sensei. Since he was a contestant I had no right to stop him and he risked his life by doing what he did." Haku sighed heavily. "I am sorry. I wish there was some way I could be of help to you. Providing you this base to recover in is about the most I can manage for now."

"Not like we're hurt anyways." Naruto drummed his fingers on the ground as he thought. "We're just sticking around to see if more people show up to attack Sasuke and his team. It'll be a good way for us to earn scrolls if someone actually does show up."

"Damn it...why did this happen?" Sasuke smashed his fist against the side of the igloo in irritation. "Why the hell was it us?"

"Perhaps it was fate?" Sasuke's eyes widened and he looked up at the person who had spoken. Hinata was staring right at him, a cruel calmness in her eyes.

"Regardless of what happened, you guys need a plan. Are you just going to sit in this igloo until morning?" Haku was looking around at the four conscious Genin seriously.

"We will stay here until tomorrow morning. If no one comes by then, than we shall go searching for our own scrolls." Lee looked to both of his teammates and they nodded their heads in agreement to his plan.

"Well, I'll leave you all to discuss your plans more thoroughly. I have to monitor the exam some more." Haku stood up and vanished into the mirror.

A moment of silence followed before Naruto voiced up.

"We should split up to cover more ground than. I'll leave a clone with each of you so just pop him if something happens." They all began discussing their plans until Sasuke suddenly slammed his fist against the igloo again.

"Are you guys stupid? We're both down to no scrolls thanks to an unjust system! Are you really okay with that?" He looked each of them in the eyes one by one. To his surprise, they all seemed completely sure of themselves. He didn't understand.

"Why are you still whining about something in the past?" Sasuke stared at Naruto in disbelief. Was he about to be lectured by the dead-last? "Yeah we lost the scrolls but we're alive. As long as I can still crawl I intend to pass this exam. What about you, Sasuke?"

Those words haunted the last Uchiha the rest of the day and most of the night.

* * *

"What did you say?" Sarutobi asked as he stood up and slammed his hands on the table.

"Orochimaru infiltrated the village and attacked a group of Konoha Genin." Guy said, nimbly sitting on a chair. His whole body felt like it was on fire from opening up so many gates but he had to make this report. "I was summoned into the forest by their scrolls and engaged him in battle. He's dead now."

Sarutobi opened and closed his mouth several times, something Might Guy had never seen before. Finally, the Hokage seemed to regain some composer. "Bird, Rat, Dog! I want you to the location immediately!" Guy felt the presence of the three ANBU leave in a hurry.

"What was he doing here?" Sarutobi asked as he slumped down into his chair.

"I apologize, Hokage-sama. I was too focused on trying to survive the battle. I didn't interrogate him at all. I also failed to spare his life." Guy attempted to stand up to bow but instead he cringed from the pain shooting through his body.

The Hokage shook his head. "He never would have talked anyways. Furthermore, it is a miracle you managed to survive at all, let alone kill him."

"He had been heavily injured before I had shown up. Both my team and Kakashi's had been engaged in battle with him, not to mention Haku had been fighting as well." Guy had a faraway look as he spoke. "Yakushi Kabuto. He aided me in landing the killing blow. Do you know him?"

Sarutobi pulled at his beard. "The head surgeons son, I believe. He was the only one found alive on a battlefield some years ago. That's all I really remember. Compared to his famous past, he doesn't really stick out much."

Guy rolled the thought around in his head for a few moments. Eventually, he decided against mentioning about the feeling he had when he had been talking to Kabuto. It was probably nothing anyways. After all, he had helped him win the battle. "My team isn't going to be able to get a new scroll, are they?"

"Unfortunately, this exam is now the least of my worries. I'm sorry, Guy." Sarutobi tilted his hat towards the youthful man.

"No, that's okay. They'll pull through. I know it."

* * *

_Day Two_

* * *

"Sabaku Kyu!" Gaara said impassively as he closed his hands. The man encased in Gaara's sand could only scream as he was crushed to death and his insides were spilled everywhere.

"How disgusting…" Kiba spoke lowly from his hiding spot in the bushes. He looked to his two teammates. "Hey we should get out of here."

Shino nodded in agreement but Sakura didn't make a single move. Instead she sat there trembling. "Hey, Sakura, c'mon we gotta get outta here." Kiba shook her shoulder slightly. Sakura gave no outward reaction, instead she kept staring at the blood that was still raining onto the snowy ground.

"Hey, no stop, don't kill us too!" Kiba spun his attention back to the other two Ame ninja. They were now also encased in the redhead's sand. "No please, we'll do anything you want!" The two of them were in hysterics as they screamed for mercy. Gaara ignored their pleas as he rose them up into the air. "Stop screwing with us! We'll team up with you! We have an Earth scroll, just take it!"

"Sabaku Kyu!" Kiba wasn't sure what happened. But one second Sakura was laying in the bush next to him and the next she was in plain site of those crazy Suna ninja.

"Stop it! Can't you hear them!" She shouted too late. They were already dead. Silence followed her outburst on both sides.

"W-what the hell?" Kankuro finally managed to say. After that, everything sprang into motion. Temari ran forward and pulled out her fan.

Kiba and Shino jumped from their hiding places and grabbed Sakura.

Temari swung her fan. Team Eight jumped out of the way just in time and started making a run for it.

"Damn it, after them!" Temari yelled. She quickly took into the trees after the group.

"Gaara!" Kankuro shouted. "You stay here and look for the scroll! You leave that group to us! They might have a heaven scroll, which we need!" Gaara said nothing but he glared evilly at his older brother. Kankuro shivered a little before he ran off too.

* * *

"Well, well, well. Looks like we lucked out and found us a group of newbies. Wouldn't you say, Yoroi?

"I think, you're right, Misumi."

"Tch, Troublesome." Shikamaru said lazily as he stood up from where he was sitting. "I told you guys a fire would draw unnecessary attention."

"Don't you criticize us! It's freaking cold you lazy bastard!" Ino shouted as she too stood up. "And Choji, quit stuffing your face! Enemies are here already!"

Choji quickly finished his bag of chips before he wordlessly stood up as well.

"Well, this should be fun." The one called Yoroi said as he cracked his knuckles and stepped forward.

"Wait a second there." Shikamaru said, holding his hand up. "If I'm not mistaken, isn't your third teammate Kabuto?"

"What of it?" Misumi asked.

"Well, I'm just saying, but I doubt he would want you guys attacking us, being first timers and all." Shikamaru shrugged.

"Don't think we give a damn what he has to say!" Yoroi shouted as he charged with a kunai drawn. He stopped within ten feet of his opponent a hunched over slightly.

"Yoroi, what's wrong?" Misumi edged forward slightly.

"I can't move! What kind of jutsu is this?"

"Kagemane no Jutsu, successful!" Shikamaru let out a small smirk.

"You bastard! When did you weave this jutsu?"

"When I was still sitting down. I had my back to you guys, after all." Shikamaru explained lazily as he watched his free opponent carefully.

"Unfortunately for you I now know to attack from a distance." The man pulled out several shuriken. "Dodge this!" He suddenly froze up too. Then his body collapsed.

"Misumi, Misumi! What the hell happened?" Yoroi couldn't turn his head to see.

"Here you go." Shikamaru turned his head for him. Yoroi watched as Misumi slowly stood back up.

"Well, well. Looks like I made it." Misumi laughed aloud.

"Misumi, what are you talking about?" Yoroi wasn't sure what was going on anymore.

"Let me explain." Shikamaru turned his head back straight. "You see how my teammates unconscious behind me?"

"You don't mean…"

"Yep. She's invaded your friend's mind. Now it's three on one, what are you going to do?" Yoroi grimaced from behind his mask.

"I'm going to kill you all!" He roared. Suddenly his body started jerking slightly.

"Shit! Ino, Chouji! He's breaking free!" Shikamaru shouted just as he lost the jutsu completely. Yoroi then charged at him.

"Nikudan Sensha!" Choji roared as his body inflated. His head and limbs popped inside his clothes and he started rolling at a great velocity towards his opponent.

"Damn!" Yoroi dove out of the way of the ball before he was flattened. When he got up his hand was glowing blue.

"Don't try anything funny!" Misumi's body roared as he jumped at his teammate. Yoroi dodged his punch and delivered a strong kick to his teammates chin. Blood flew from his mouth as he stumbled backwards. At that same moment, blood flew from Ino's mouth.

"Hmm…interesting." Yoroi said aloud as Choji came rolling back through. This time when he jumped out of the way he lightly tapped onto Choji's side. The ball veered out of control a little. On his way back through Yoroi did the same thing. Choji was wobbling terribly now.

"Oi, Choji! Leave it to Ino! His hand is doing something strange to your chakra!" Shikamaru called.

"Got'cha!" Choji stopped rolling and popped out as his normal self, panting heavily.

"So what are you going to do Yoroi? You can't kill your teammate, now can you?" Ino taunted as she slowly approach her foe.

"I'm onto your game." Yoroi stood his ground. "Any damage my teammate takes, your real body takes. What a disappointing ability."

Ino stopped in her tracks. "You wouldn't really kill your friend, would you?" Yoroi took advantage of her sudden pause and charged. Ino didn't have a chance as he grabbed and twisted her arm and slammed his teammates body into the ground.

"I'll tell you now, you chose the wrong body to enter when you chose his. How about I show you why." Yoroi suddenly kicked in his teammates elbow and snapped the arm backwards.

"No!" Shikamaru shouted as he heard Ino's elbow snap.

"What the hell?" Ino shouted in confusion. "That didn't hurt at all!" Yoroi let arm go and it snapped right back into place.

"That's right. Misumi's body is special. Too bad your body doesn't seem to share it's attributes!" Yoroi grabbed his teammates leg and gave a mighty twist.

"Ino, leave the body!" Shikamaru shouted as he watched his teammates leg spin unnaturally.

"Shikamaru, I'm sorry!" Ino shouted before Misumi's body went limp again.

"Damn, and I was going to go for the neck this time." Yoroi laughed as his real teammate started to stand back up.

"Took you long enough, asshole. Don't be so rough with my body next time." Misumi cracked a few of his bones.

Ino suddenly gave a great cry of anguish as her mind returned to her body. "Heh, serves you right bitch." Yoroi chuckled. "I believe it's two on two now."

Shikamaru scoffed. "You'll pay for that." He quickly ran through his hand seals. His shadow then sprang to life and charged the two older genin.

"Sorry, but we won't be caught by that again!" Both of them jumped back. "Instead I think we'll take our time with fatso over there."

"What the hell did you call me?" Choji screamed.

"Oops, looks like we hit a pressure point."

"Sorry, but I won't let you guys escape." Shikamaru said as he neared his opponents with great speed.

"What the-when did he get so fast?" Shikamaru's shadow hit them just as he quit running.

"While those leg weights are usually a pain in the ass, they definitely help for when I need to surprise someone." Shikamaru gestured to a set of weights he'd left in the snow behind him. "Gonna have to tell Guy-sensei he taught me something useful after all. Alright, Choji! Nail them good!"

"Definitely!" Choji roared, already in his ball form and rolling towards the enemy. "No one gets away with calling me fat!"

"Whoa there, big guy!" Kabuto suddenly appeared in front of Choji with one hand raised, instantly stopped in his tracks.

"Choji!" Shikamaru screamed. He didn't dare move though for fear of releasing his targets.

"No worries, Shikamaru-kun. I simply stopped him from crushing my teammates. I'd hate to have to repeat again because they died, you know?"

Shikamaru studied him closely. He could've sworn he saw Kabuto's hand glow just a moment before he stopped Choji. Maybe he was wrong? "I know what you mean, however, your guys attacked us first."

"Yes, yes. I apologize. I'll be sure to scold them." Kabuto sent a glare to his two teammates. "You guys are always so overconfident. That's what gets you into trouble. When you're going to defeat an opponent, do it precisely. Like this." With a flick of his wrist, three separate kunai plunged deeply into Shikamaru's torso.

"S-shit!" Shikamaru stumbled back and dropped his jutsu.

"Now don't worry, I kept him quite alive. So you can torture him as much as you want. Although I'd start with the fat one. I cut his voice box with my Chakra no Mesu but once he's over the shock he'll be quite capable of fighting." Kabuto continued lecturing his teammates as if nothing had happened.

"You…bastard." Shikamaru slowly started to sit back up. He grabbed a kunai and began to pull it from his body.

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you, Shikamaru-kun." Kabuto walked up to him and bent down. "You see, if you pull it out, the blood will run more freely. How about I help you and put it in a little deeper?" Kabuto grabbed the handle and gave it a slight twist.

Shikamaru let out a scream of pain. "Oh, I'm sorry, perhaps I was a little too rough?" Kabuto smirked maliciously as he reached into Shikamaru's pouch. "Here it is!" Kabuto pulled out his scroll. "Ah, an earth one too! Just what I was looking for! Thank you, Shikamaru-kun." Kabuto stood back up and walked over to his teammates.

"Don't take too long. Something big has happened. I'm going to meet with Sakon's team now and I've already deployed Dosu's." Kabuto whispered to them before he took off into the trees.

Both of them gave small chuckles. "Guess we should start with the fat one then?" Yoroi asked.

"As if I'd listen to that guy. No, I'm gonna have some fun with this shadow manipulating bastard." Misumi answered as he made his way over to his target.

"Damn it…come on, Shikamaru…think!" Try as he might, the lazy boy couldn't get his body to move. Typical, being it was the one time he actually wanted it too.

* * *

"Take this Dog Boy!" Temari shouted as she gave another wave of her fan as she chased after Kiba. Just like before, with each wave, limbs of trees were chopped into pieces and sent tumbling to the ground. Kiba, again, narrowly dodged the torrent of death.

"You're crazy, you know that?" Kiba roared as another gale approached him. "Ah, shit!" He took cover behind one of the massive trees. "I hope Sakura and Shino are doing better against that cat guy than I am here." Akamaru gave a slight whine from the inside of his jacket. "Hmm? You know what, that's not a bad idea." Kiba responded back to the dog. "I may get a little cut up but it might work."

"Don't just talk to yourself!" Kiba dropped to his feet as Temari used the fan like a mallet and slammed it against the tree where his head had just been. As Kiba rolled away he dropped a couple of smoke bombs that went off.

"Are you screwing with me?" Temari opened her fan and blew all the smoke away with one mighty swing. Kiba was no where in sight. "Tch, what kind of man are you? Running away from a girl like this isn't chivalrous at all!"

"Fine, then I'll face you head on!" Temari turned to see a giant gray drill flying at her. "Gatsuga!" Kiba roared as Temari rolled out of the way. Kiba barely missed but Temari still felt her clothes tear slightly.

"That's more like it!" Temari shouted as she readied her fan. Kiba came spinning back around. "Take this!" She gave her fan another big swing. Kiba ran straight into the wind this time. At first he seemed like he was going to be able drill clear through it. But then he started to wobble and then he veered off completely. Kiba slammed painfully into the ground.

"Damn!' Kiba said as he slowly started to rise to his feet. He didn't get far as Temari's metal fan slammed into his ribs.

"Time's up!" Temari said as she brought her fan above her ahead.

Kiba gave a cough of blood. "Yeah, for you it is." He said triumphantly.

Temari had no time to ask what he meant as another drill slammed into her body from the back. She gave a scream of pain as the drill picked her up off her feet and then slammed her into a nearby tree. She fell limply to the ground as the second drill was revealed to be another, more feral looking Kiba. In a poof of smoke, Akamaru was standing there instead.

"Nice going, Akamaru!" Kiba called while he limped up to his nin-dog. The dog gave a bark before it walked up to him whimpering. "Nah, I'm fine. She did nail me good but nothing that won't heal. She, on the other hand, won't be up for a week!" Kiba gave a loud laugh but then quickly gripped his ribs in pain.

Akamaru gave another whimper to show its concern. "We need to worry about our teammates for now. We'll take care of it later." Suddenly the sound of feet crunching on the snow reached their ears. They both turned their heads up and gave a big sniff. "Crap, it's that face-paint guy. We gotta hide, fast." Kiba limped over to a group of nearby fallen branches and quickly nestled his way inside them. Just as he did, Kankuro came running out into the clearing.

"Damn it! Where'd those brats go?" He scanned around the area for a minute. Then he caught sight of his downed sister. "Temari? Temari!" He shouted and quickly began to run over to her. As he neared her he felt something funny starting to happen. Was the world distorting. No, it was more like it was spinning.

"The hell?" Kankuro held his head as the world began to spin faster and faster. "Genjutsu…" Kankuro snapped his eyes shut and focused hard. When he opened them back up the world was right again. He quickly ran over to his sister, picked her up and ran out of the clearing.

"Don't worry, I'll get you to a safe spot. Once I do, I'll take care of those guys." His sister stirred slightly.

"Kan…kur…o?" She whispered slowly.

"Yeah, it's me. Here. I'm gonna set you down." Kankuro stopped jogging and leaned her up against a tree. "You wait right here. I'll knock these bastards out." He turned to head out but Temari grabbed ahold of his pant leg.

"Wait. I'll come with you." She slowly stood back up.

"What? No way." Kankuro turned around to face her. "You're hurt. I know you want reven-" Kankuro was cut off as a kunai was run through his heart. "Wha…t?" He stumbled backwards slightly.

Temari gave him a small, sweet smile. With a poof of smoke, Sakura took her place. "Y-you bitch!" Kankuro stumbled backwards a little farther. "Where's my sister?"

Sakura shrugged. "Beats me. After I threw that genjutsu on you, I henged and took her place. Shino dragged her real body off somewhere. But are you sure you want those to be your last words?"

Kankuro grimaced and stumbled back a little more. "Geh, I'll kill you!" He pulled out a kunai and staggered forward. Before he got more than even a few inches, Sakura threw another kunai into his forehead. Kankuro jerked to a stop. His mouth slowly twisted up into a wicked smile.

"What the hell?" Sakura took back a couple steps as sand begun to pour off of Kankuro's body. Soon, a wooden puppet was revealed. The mummy on the puppets back unraveled and the real Kankuro jumped from it.

"Too bad for you, whore. Now you're mine!" The puppet's hand twisted up and several needles flew from it. Sakura jumped out of the way. The puppet dove after her, a spike extending from its arm. Sakura rolled backwards and narrowly dodged it. Next the head popped off. It flew at her with it's mouth open and another needle poised to strike.

Sakura gave a scream and shielded her eyes. To her surprise, and relief, the pain never came. When she opened her eyes, the puppet head was suspended in midair, inches from her face. "What the hell are these things?" Sakura looked past the head to see Kankuro being overwhelmed by insects.

"I never thought I'd be happy to see a bug in my life." Sakura said as she stood up and walked around the puppet's head. "You're late, Shino!"

"Moving a body takes time. I had to ascertain a good location to stow her." Shino said stepping out from behind one of the big trees.

"You couldn't just dump her on the other side of the tree?" Sakura asked in annoyance.

"That would be ill-advised. We could use her as collateral. Perhaps we can talk that Gaara into trading the scroll for her life. If I just left her anywhere, there was a chance Gaara or another team would locate her. We would then lose what little advantage we have." Shino's explanation was met with exhausted laughter from Kankuro.

"Trade? With Gaara? It'll never work. He'd let you kill her and then he'd kill you. Life isn't important to that guy. You might as well run now. You'll never beat him." Kankuro tried to stand up but immediately failed. "Just run while you can."

Shino took his words into consideration for a moment. "His words are…disturbing." He concluded.

"Doesn't matter how disturbing they are. They have an earth scroll. We got heaven. We'll never get another opportunity like this." Kiba stumbled into the clearing. "Besides, it's four on one. There's no way we can lose."

"Don't be so rash Kiba! We can't just charge into this! If this guy is as dangerous as he says, we need a plan." Sakura scolded her teammate.

"There's no time to make a plan!" Kiba shouted.

"And why not?" Sakura yelled back.

"Because he's already here." Was Shino's response. Sakura looked to her teammate and then at where he was looking. Her blood ran cold. There he was. The crazy killer who slaughtered people without mercy. Sakura automatically took two steps back.

"Don't back out on us, Sakura! We're a team! We can take this guy! Together!"

Sakura quit backing up. "Kiba…" She whispered. She then looked to Shino. He stood at the ready. They were going to fight. She couldn't let them down. She had worked too hard with Kurenai-sensei to do that.

Sakura swallowed and steeled her nerves. "You're right, I'm sorry."

"Hey, don't sweat it! That's what I'm here for!" Kiba formed a hand seal and Akamaru transformed into a perfect copy of him.

"You defeated my brother and sister." Gaara spoke for the first time. "You should be especially tasty!" His sand came alive and flung itself at them.

* * *

Shikamaru let out another roar of pain as Misumi snapped yet another finger backwards. Choji watched in mute horror from his position on the ground. Yoroi sat on top of him, his foot planted on his face. His hand slowly sucking the chakra from his body. Ino lay unconscious, neither man had touched her yet.

"Heh, this is too much fun. What bone should I snap next, huh, Shikamaru-kun?" Misumi laughed cruelly.

"Go to hell." Shikamaru said between clenched teeth.

"What was that, punk?" Misumi socked Shikamaru right in the chin, slamming his face into the ground. "I was being nice, giving you a few extra minutes in this world. But I'm not so sure you have the right attitude. Maybe I should just snap your neck right here?" Misumi grabbed onto his throat.

"Shi-ka…" Choji's voice called out just lightly, tears streaming freely from his eyes and into the snow.

"Say goodb-"

"Konoha Senpu!" Misumi was sent flying as a powerful spinning kick connected with his gut.

"What the hell?" Yoroi immediately got off of Choji as the new visitor appeared. A kid in a disturbing white spandex.

"Lee…" Shikamaru whispered.

"Do not worry, Shikamaru-kun. I will pay these guys back ten-fold for what they have done to you." Shikamaru had never seen Lee so angry before. He couldn't help but smile a little. Things would be okay with him here.

"Yeah, knock 'em dead for me."

* * *

Sasuke sat alone inside the igloo.

Not entirely alone, Neji and Tenten were still there but unconscious.

No one had shone up and as planned, Team Guy had cleared out, leaving Sasuke alone to his thoughts.

"What do I plan to do?" He asked himself the same question over and over again. He was beginning to realize how weak of a person he actually was. Tenten and Neji were so much stronger than him. They had fought their all against the Sannin while he had stayed back in fear of the greater foe. Just like it had been with his brother.

Now he was again frozen in fear from going out into the forest on his own. The three of them had gone separate ways without a fear in the world but he couldn't take that first step. So he was stuck here inside the igloo, waiting for his teammates to recover.

"Guess I'm on my own if anyone from the exam actually shows up then." A sudden crack alerted Sasuke's attention. He took a quick peak around outside. He had no doubt that his team was well hidden, but he still couldn't take any chances. To his horror, a team stood in the clearing right outside his base. By the looks of things, the team was from Otogakure.

"Oh, Sasuke!" The taller male called. "Come out of there! We'd like to have a chat with you."

Sasuke ducked down. "Shit, how did they find us?"

"We could also hear you talking to yourself a mile away. You shouldn't underestimate our abilities. Orochimaru taught us himself!"

Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise. He emerged from the safety of their hideout and approached the Oto team in the clearing. "What, your boss too weak to handle me himself?" He jeered.

The girl laughed. "As if. More like he's too busy now. He told us to find and capture you. He doesn't care what happens to your teammates anymore. You must have really set him off."

Sasuke smiled slightly. It would appear they weren't aware their leader had even died. Someone else must be calling the shots while taking advantage of their ignorance.

"The proctor won't be able to help you. We are actual participants in the exam." Sasuke already knew that this time. "Afraid it's just you and us!" The mummy like boy charged at him. Sasuke shifted into his fighting stance and activated his Sharingan. The boy swung and Sasuke stepped back, dodging his blow. Sasuke spun around and clocked the boy in the head with a powerful kick.

"Got you." Sasuke said before his vision started to blur.

"And I, you." The mummy-like boy responded as Sasuke hunched over and barfed.

"Heh, how pathetic." Zaku brought up one of his arms. Suddenly a stream of air fired from it and slammed into Sasuke, knocking him clear into a tree. "I don't even see why Orochimaru-sama wants this guy. He's worthless compared to us."

Sasuke cursed as he attempted to get up. Why was it always like this. He performed so well in academics but when he got into the actual field he always seemed to fail.

"Zaku! Kin! Get down!" Dosu roared.

Zaku dropped down just in time but Kin didn't react fast enough. An arrow flew through the back of her head and exited out the front. Her brains were scattered everywhere as her body fell limply to the ground.

Dosu rose his arm up and deflected a third arrow that would have taken his head as well.

"Kin!" Zaku roared. "Who the hell are you?" He spun around looking for the one who killed his teammate. "Huh? Show yourself!" He fired a shot of air randomly into the trees.

"Hinata?" Sasuke said weakly as he stumbled to his feet. His eyes slowly began to harden in resolve.

"I'm tired of needing to be saved."

* * *

Sakura quickly formed a group of seals before she barely dodged Gaara's whip of sand. "Gatsuga!" Kiba roared as he and Akamaru slammed into his sand defense again. They were both easily batted away.

"What the hell, Sakura? I thought you were putting him in a genjutsu!" Kiba shouted as he stumbled up from where he landed.

"I did but it's like the sand has a mind of its own!" Sakura cried as she slid around several more sand whips.

"What about you, Shino? I don't see your insects doing anything! That has got to be taking up chakra!" Kiba jumped out of the way of sand that was directed at him.

"I just dispatched a group of my insects and they were exterminated on contact!. There might not be much I can do to aide us in this fight." Shino rolled under a whip that had been aimed to trip him.

"Damn it, then how the hell are supposed to win this one?" Kiba roared. A hand of sand suddenly shot out and managed to grab a hold of him.

"Disappear!" Gaara whispered and closed his hand.

"Kiba!" Sakura shouted as she started to run for her teammate, she wasn't going to get there in time. Fortunately, Akamaru managed to drill through it in time, setting Kiba free.

"Thanks, bud!" Kiba shouted as he jumped away.

"It is apparent that there is no winning." Shino said as he rolled up next to Sakura.

"Then what do we do?" Sakura asked as she looked at her teammate.

"We give up." Shino said calmly as he stood up. "We surrender Gaara-san. No more!" He shouted across the clearing. All the sand suddenly stopped.

"What the hell did you just say?" Kiba yelled from atop a branch.

"Don't be an imbecile, Kiba. He is clearly far superior to us." Shino reached into his pocket and pulled out their scroll. "Here is our scroll. It happens to be the one you need. We'll hand it over to you along with the location of your sister in return for letting us go."

Gaara laughed in response. Shino pushed up his glasses in irritation. "I am making a serious proposition." Gaara's laughing immediately ceased. A scary moment of silence rang over the forest.

"I don't care about your offer. The only thing I want is blood!" His sand shot forward and grabbed a hold of Shino.

"Shino!" Sakura screamed as she latched onto him and pulled him back. The only thing left was his arm when Gaara closed his hand. With a sickening crunch and a scream from Shino and the scroll along with his arm were gone.

"Damn it! He was trying to negotiate with you asshole! What right did you have to steal his arm?" Kiba roared and charged at his target of rage. Gaara's sand immediately intercepted him.

"No, Kiba! Someone save him!" Sakura cried again. Akamaru wasn't close enough this time.

"Suiton: Mizurappa no Jutsu!" A wave of water suddenly rose up and before anyone knew what was happening, washed away Gaara and his sand.

"Kiba, you okay?" Naruto said as he landed next to him.

"Naruto? What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like? I'm saving your asses." Naruto said as he smiled triumphantly.

"Who said I wanted to be saved by you?" Kiba put his forehead right up against Naruto's.

"What was that, dog breath?" Naruto returned Kiba's glare

"Idiots! Move!" Sakura yelled.

"Huh?" They both turned to see a giant tree branch flying at them. "Oh, shit!" They both jumped in an opposite direction to get out of the way.

"How interesting…so we actually did meet here today." Naruto's blood ran cold as Gaara slowly walked back into the clearing, a huge, deranged grin on his face.

"This makes me so happy that I get to kill you today, Uzumaki Naruto!"

"What the hell is this guy talking about?" Kiba looked back and forth between Naruto and the redheaded maniac. "Did you do something to piss him off?"

Naruto managed a tight-lipped smile. "Something like that." He glanced briefly over to where Shino and Sakura were. He then looked back to Kiba. "Get your teammates and get them out of here."

Kiba gave him a furious stare. "Don't tell me what to do! You think I'm just gonna leave you to fight this guy on your own!" Before Naruto could respond, another giant log slammed into his body and carried him off.

"Naruto!" Kiba stared at the spot the boy had been with huge eyes. "You bastard!" He spun to the redhead. "He wasn't even paying attention! What's your problem?"

"I'm not interested in your talk. I want to kill him now." Gaara said impassively.

"That does it! You've hurt too many people!" Kiba went to take a step forward but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Calm down, Kiba. I'm alright." He spun around. Naruto stood right next to him, completely unharmed. To further Kiba's surprise, he was holding Kankuro's semiconscious body.

"Wha..how?" Kiba fumbled for the proper words.

"Just one second, I'll explain." Naruto walked past Kiba and looked straight at Gaara. He then held up his hand with only his index finger extended. "One minute, Gaara! I'll fight you in one minute!" Silence rang across the clearing. Kiba was baffled. This guy couldn't be reasoned with. Why would he listen to anything Naruto had to say?

"You have fifty seconds left." Kiba's mouth hit the ground. Gaara was giving him the minute? Naruto wasted no time. He spun around and gave Kiba a hard look.

"It was a Shadow Clone. I have another one next to your teammates." Kiba spun back to see another Naruto talking to Sakura. "He's telling her to take Shino and run as we speak. They'll need someone to keep them safe." Naruto looked purposefully at him.

"No way! I can't let you fight this maniac by yourself! Do you have any idea how strong this guy is?" Kiba shouted in exasperation.

"I do." Naruto's blunt reply shocked Kiba silent. "But you have to trust me, I'm the only one who can take him. We…understand each other."

Kiba gave him a baffled stare. "Understand each other?" He said skeptically. "How can anyone understand that guy?"

"Just leave it to me, Kiba." Naruto ignored his question. "Take care of your team."

"Kiba!" They both turned to look at Sakura. "Don't listen to Naruto! Just stay with him! The two of us will be okay!" Without waiting for an answer, Sakura hoisted Shino by his one arm and started running out of the clearing with him.

Kiba smirked and turned to see Naruto staring at his teammates with his mouth agape. "I understand your good intention but we won't let you take this guy by yourself."

Naruto turned an annoyed glare back to him. "Then you and your mutt take care of this guy." Naruto threw Kankuro to a surprised Kiba.

Kiba barely caught his heavy body. "What do I look like, your luggage boy?"

"I don't want him to get caught up in this. I know it's hard for you to think about right now, but I think this guy was just as afraid of Gaara as you are." Kiba stared hard at Naruto for a few seconds.

"If things start to get messy, we're jumping in without hesitation." Kiba jumped up to a nearby branch. Akamaru was right on his tail.

"Sounds like a plan…" Naruto took a deep breath and slowly turned back towards his opponent. Gaara stood there patiently. "If you had any second thoughts about what I said yesterday, now's your chance! We don't have to do this Gaara!"

"I already gave you my answer…and your minutes up."


	17. The Forest of Death Part 3

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_The Forest of Death (Part 3)_

* * *

The sand from Gaara's gourd sprang to life.

Naruto began running through hand signs. "Suiton: Suiben no Jutsu!" The snow around Naruto's feet instantly turned to water and a stream spiraled around his body. "It's your move."

Gaara said nothing as a whip of sand shot forward. Naruto's water whip adjusted accordingly. Gaara's whip slapped into it with brute force. Water splashed everywhere but the sand was halted in its tracks. Naruto's water knocked it out of the way and then fired forward. More sand rose from Gaara's gourd and blocked the water before it was able to reach him.

Neither combatant had moved even in inch.

"Intereresting…Uzumaki Naruto. You plan to use that water the same way I use my sand?" Gaara continued to stare impassively at his opponent.

Naruto shrugged. "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."

Gaara again didn't respond as three whips of sand shot forward from his gourd.

Naruto ran through more seals. "Two can play at that game." Four whips of water flew from the snow. Three intercepted Gaara's whips and one continued forward. A wall of sand stood in front of Gaara, blocking it.

"Suna Shuriken." Blades of sand began firing in rapid succession.

Naruto ran through more seals. "Suiton: Suijinheki no Jutsu!" A wall of water rose in front of himself but Naruto didn't stop there. "Suiton: Mizu Shuriken no Jutsu!" Water pellets to match Gaara's sand were fired off from the wall. Sand and water slammed into each other relentlessly.

Meanwhile, Naruto was already running through more hand signs. "Suiton: Suiben no Jutsu!" More whips rose up and traveled forward, skirting the outside the range of the shuriken fire. They both went to strike Gaara from either side. To Naruto's irritation, more sand rose to deflect them.

Gaara's sand immediately went on the offensive and copied Naruto's trick. Naruto grit his teeth and rose his whips back up to block the quickly flying whips. This was getting him nowhere fast. He was going to have to improvise to gain any ground here. Naruto took a quick chance to glance around to his surroundings. Something immediately caught his eye.

"This'll work." One of Naruto's whips grabbed a splintered piece of wood from one of the massive branches. It then hurled it towards his opponent. Just before it hit, the sand blocked it and let it fall uselessly to the floor next to his feet.

"Naruto! You're running out of water! Look out!" Kiba's warning came too late as Naruto used up the last of the water in his current vicinity. What was left of his wall fired off into shuriken and his whips dribbled out of existence. Now nothing stood between him and an array of firing sand.

Naruto wasn't given a chance to move as his body was torn apart by the razor sharp blades of sand. "Pathetic."

"Who's pathetic?" Gaara's eyes widened in surprise. He didn't have a chance to turn to the voice as a fist slammed into his face.

Gaara rose his arm up to get his sand to defend him. "Don't even try it!" Another fist slammed into his stomach. Naruto then jumped and delivered a spinning kick to his opponents face, cracking it, knocking him down, and pushing him back away from the protection of his sand. However, Naruto was still in the middle of it all. It rose up in a dome around him and compressed inwards.

Gaara starred at the dome for a second. No blood or screaming came from it. He slowly stood up. "I see, that's how it is." He turned back to where Naruto had been standing when their duel began. He was still there, as if nothing had happened. "Kawarimi no Jutsu."

"That's right." Naruto grinned happily. "It worked like a charm. You let that log sit right next to you, inside your guard. I swapped in, knocked your ass around, and then swapped right back out! Pretty genius if I say so myself!" Gaara stared at him silently. The cracks in his face were slowly repairing. "I guess that armor of sand you were wearing meant you were prepared for it though. It hurt like a bitch to punch you." Naruto shook the hand he had used to punch Gaara with.

"Naruto, behind you, you idiot!" Spikes of sand pierced Naruto through the torso before the boy could even turn around. He stood there gasping for air for a few moments before bursting into smoke.

"Don't think I'd pick the same spot to stand!" Gaara turned to his right. Naruto was charging right at him again. His sand instantly rose to his defense but Naruto dodged and rolled out of the way. He made it within Gaara's guard and landed another punch on the boy's chin. Naruto then back flipped away before the sand struck him from behind.

"How?" Gaara asked as he stumbled back to his feet. More cracks were present on his face.

"C'mon Gaara! Don't tell me you're surprised?" Naruto rolled out of the way of the sand and into Gaara's guard again. With two quick jabs to the chin, Naruto dove out of the way again. Gaara's armor broke away completely now.

"You…you weighed the sand down with your water." Gaara spat out.

"Yep, normally, I wouldn't be fast enough to run around it like this, but with your sand this heavy, there's no way I'm going to get caught!" Naruto slipped back into the guard and aimed another punch at Gaara's chin. The boy managed to raise his arm just in time to block the blow, but he was still sent spinning to the ground. "Oh, so you know how to block a punch after all?" Naruto laughed as he danced backwards through the sand again.

Without warning his feet suddenly sunk into the ground. Gaara smirked evilly as the sand slowly rose him up. "You can use that stuff to fly?" Naruto tugged as hard as he could but he couldn't get his feet out. Instead he began to sink deeper.

"You will sink down fifty meters where the pressure will without a doubt crush your body." Gaara said. "Even if you do escape before that happens, you will be forced to fight from the trees as I have turned all the ground in the immediate vicinity to such a substance. Let's see your fist reach me now, Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto grit his teeth at his opponent. "Damn you, Gaara!"

* * *

"So which one of you should I beat to a pulp first?" Lee asked as he finished cracking his knuckles.

"You bastard…" Misumi slowly leaned himself up from the tree he had been slammed into. "I'm going to kick your ass."

"Now, now, Misumi. Why don't you let me have a go at this one?" Yoroi stepped in between his partner and the spandex clad genin.

"No freaking way! I owe the bastard one! Let me have him!" Misumi walked up next to Yoroi.

"You got to have all the fun torturing Pineapple-head. It's my turn to torture someone." Yoroi glared at his partner through his shaded glasses.

"Tch…fine, just make it fast." Misumi walked over and plopped down on top of Choji.

"Get off of him." Lee said as he settled into his stance.

"What was that punk, you want to make me?" Misumi taunted from his spot.

"I shall." Lee went to move forward to Yoroi was instantly upon him.

"Lesson number one: never take your eyes off your opponent." Yoroi swung and Lee easily caught his fist.

"Lesson number one: never hurt my friends." Lee bent Yoroi's hand backwards with such force that his wrist broke with an audible snap. Yoroi let out a howl of pain as he attempted to stumbled backwards. However, Lee wasn't done just yet. He pulled the masked shinobi forward and drilled his knee right into the man's stomach. A powerful back handed fist to the face later and he was sent painfully to the floor.

"Your turn." Lee said to a still confused Misumi. He took a step forward but paused as a hand grabbed onto his ankle. He turned his head and saw a glowing hand that belonged to Yoroi.

"I got you now, punk. I'll have all your chakra gone in a matter of moments. How do you plan to fight me then?" Yoroi let out a small chuckle.

Lee stared at his still downed opponent for a moment, pity obvious in his eyes. "It is most unfortunate for you. I am the worst kind of enemy you could possibly come up against."

"Huh?" Yoroi looked up at him, clearly confused.

"I do not make use of chakra. I only use taijutsu. Your technique is just wasted effort on me."

"Y-you're lying!" Yoroi slowly stumbled back to his feet. "I'll prove it! I've taken enough chakra now that there's no way you'll be able to fight back."

Lee stared at him for another long moment. "First Gate: Open."

"Die!" Yoroi charged at his opponent. Lee vanished from his sight and a second later a foot slammed into his chin from straight below. Yoroi was launched high into the air. As he reached the arc of his fall, Lee appeared behind him, the bandages on his arms already spinning around and ensnaring his opponent.

"You Bastard!" Yoroi struggled to break free but to no avail. He could do nothing as Lee grabbed onto him when they began to descend.

"Omote Renge!" Lee cried as they began spinning violently fast. Yoroi was powerless to do anything as his head was slammed into the ground, crushing his skull and shattering his neck. Lee meanwhile, landed nimbly next to his corpse.

He settled back into his stance and stared straight at Misumi who still had yet to move.

* * *

"Show yourself!" Zaku roared as he continued to fire randomly into the trees. "You'll pay for what you did to Kin! I'll rip your throat out!"

"Zaku you fool! Get down!" Dosu tackled his teammate into the ground just as an arrow flew over their heads. Zaku looked up to see another two arrows flying towards them. He shot two streams of wind at the arrows, shattering them before they got anywhere near them.

"Now I got you!" Zaku settled into a crouch, his hands pointed at the ground. Firing his wind cannon, he was launched high into the air. Zaku fell into the trees and landed on the branch he thought his opponent was at.

"No use hiding anymore!" Zaku cautiously walked along the branch he was on. A small whistling sound reached his ears and Zaku stepped back just in time. A arrow struck right into the branch at his feet, an explosive tag attached to it. "Shit!" Zaku used his cannons to launch himself skyward again. The explosion was hot on his tail.

As he ascended he finally caught sight of the person who had killed his teammate. "You…" Zaku turned his cannon and fired at her. Hinata nimbly jumped out of the way, firing another arrow as she did. Zaku pointed his hands behind him and launched himself towards her, dodging out of the way of the arrow as he did.

Zaku flew with frightening speed towards his opponent and Hinata had little time to do much other than drop her bow and guard as he rammed into her with all his might. "I got you now, you bitch!" Zaku shouted with glee as he and Hinata rocketed away from the tree and out into the clearing.

He brought his arm around and prepared to fire his cannon but Hinata's palm strike was faster. Zaku gave a cough of blood as they both began descending towards the forest floor.

Hinata pushed away from her opponent and landed on the ground with a hard roll, instantly jumping back to her feet. Zaku fired his cannons again, allowing him to gently touch down.

Dosu was on her before she even had her bearings. "Take this!" Dosu swung a fist towards her.

Hinata began spinning instantly. "Kaiten!" Dosu was blown off his feet and knocked back several feet before his fist got anywhere near her.

Zaku pointed his hands at her just as her rotation began to lose speed. "Let's see you block this!" A foot slammed into the side of his face, knocking him down and keeping him from firing his cannon.

"Don't forget that there's two of us." Sasuke said as he lowered his foot.

"You bastard…" Zaku wiped the trail of blood from his lip as he slowly sat up. He stood back up. "You're both gonna pay!" He flung his arm up and fired a cannon. Sasuke was blasted into pieces of mud. He then felt a tight grip on both of his ankles.

"Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu!" Zaku's body was pulled underground until only his head was sticking out as Sasuke appeared from the earth.

Zaku struggled for a moment to get free. "Get me outta here you asshole!"

"You just stay there while we deal with your teammate." Sasuke said as he took off towards were Hinata and Dosu were dueling.

"Quit spinning!" Dosu shouted as his attack was deflected again. Hinata slowed her spin down again and continued to stare at Dosu. "I'm going to break though that barrier yet!" Dosu panted in exasperation.

"Your attack is quite fearsome, however, there is not way that those sound waves will ever be capable of making it through my rotation. You are just wasting your time." Hinata said as she step cautiously around her opponent.

"Oh, then why don't you try something other than defending?" Dosu taunted. "Too scared to drop your guard?" He ran forward again, his arm poised to strike. Hinata jumped to the side this time, and when she moved, an array of fireballs came into Dosu's line of sight. "Crap!" Dosu dove to the ground and just barely avoided the deadly volley.

Hinata jumped back in an instant, swinging her palm forward. Dosu rose his shielded arm to block. He was unprepared for the pain spike he felt as Hinata's strike connected. He let out a yelp of pain and stumbled backwards, nursing his slowly numbing arm. He didn't even see Sasuke's fist coming until it was buried into his face. Dosu was again ripped from his feet and sent flying to the ground.

"Sasuke-san, out of the way!" Hinata ran forward and pushed Sasuke out of the way. She then quickly stepped back herself, just before a wave of air went flying through.

She whirled and stood so her body was facing an already freed Zaku. Sasuke jumped into place and stood with his back to hers so he was facing Dosu. "So you stuck around in case something happened, huh?" Sasuke turned his head slightly so he could see the back of Hinata.

"I didn't do it for you." Hinata said without moving an inch.

"Thanks anyways. This is the second one we owe you for." Sasuke said turning back towards a slowly rising Dosu.

Hinata didn't say anything for a few moments. "You sound surprisingly…humble." She said after finding the right word.

"A day in this forest can do that to some people." Hinata didn't respond but Sasuke could swear he heard her nod her head.

"He's firing his cannon, can I leave the bandaged one to you?" Hinata asked as she stepped out of the way.

Sasuke ducked below the blast of air. "Yeah, we'll talk more when this is done." He charged towards his opponent.

"Talk to you then." Hinata mimicked his action.

* * *

"Hang on Naruto! I'll have you outta there in just a second!" Kiba prepared to jump from the branch to go after Naruto.

"No! Don't come down here! You'll just get caught too!" Naruto said as he continued struggling to get free.

"Well how do you plan to get out of there without help?" Kiba shouted back down to him.

"I'm working on it!" Naruto was already buried up to his breast and he was sinking faster. His face dawned in realization. "I got it!" He formed his favorite seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" A string of clones popped up into existence, each one holding the ankles of another, all the way up to the branch Kiba was on. "Okay, guys, go!" Naruto shouted as he locked arms with the clone at the end of the chain.

The Naruto on the end of the branch jumped backwards off of it. The rest of the clones were yanked backwards and Naruto was instantly pulled free. Each clone slowly popped out of existence until only four Naruto's were left standing on the branch. "Whoo! That was close!" The original said as he wiped his brow. "I really thought I was a goner there!"

He turned back to Kiba who was staring silently at the blond.

"What's up?" Do I got something on my face?" Naruto looked down and realized half his body was still covered in mud, easily distinguishing him from his clones.

"How did you do it?" Kiba finally asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Naruto turned his attention back to the dog owner.

"How did you get so strong so fast? Last time I saw you, you were the dead last and class clown!" Kiba got angry as he spoke. "Now you're fighting toe to toe with a guy that my whole team couldn't even get close to! A guy that ripped Shino's arm off without even blinking!" Kiba stepped forward and grabbed Naruto by the collar. "How the hell did you do it?"

Naruto stared darkly at Kiba for a minute. He grabbed his arms and stepped Kiba away from himself. "How? I worked my ass off." Naruto said calmly. "I trained nearly every hour I've been awake for a couple months now. I put every ounce of my being into becoming stronger. Now I won't let anyone ever look down on me again. I'll make the whole world acknowledge my existence." Kiba couldn't respond to that, for just a brief moment, he saw the same look in Naruto's eyes that he saw in Gaara's. Loneliness.

"We gotta move." One of Naruto's clones picked up Kankuro and jumped to another branch. Meanwhile, the rest of the clones took off to their own separate branches. Kiba quickly took off after the original, and just in time too. The branch they were on was obliterated by a wave of sand.

"That guy doesn't mess around." Naruto said as he slowly pulled out a couple of trench knives. Kiba observed each of his clones pull out copies of the exact same weapon.

"How do you plan to reach that guy with those knives? You can't even touch the ground." Kiba eyed Naruto's new weapon curiously.

"I plan to fix both problems in one go." Naruto nodded to all his clones. They each gave him a similar nod. "You might want to hold on to something." Naruto said as he jumped down.

"Wait, what are you going to do?" Kiba shouted after him. Akamaru let out a small whine as he took Naruto's advice and latched firmly onto the tree.

"What are you attempting now? Uzumaki Naruto." Gaara said with mild curiosity as each Naruto turned to the trees and rose their arms into slashing position.

"Eat this!" All four Naruto's slashed in a wide arc just before they reached the bottom. They then stuck themselves to the tree just a couple feet above the ground.

Kiba stared at Naruto as if he'd grown a second head. What the hell was he playing at? Did he go blind or something? Suddenly a strange creaking sound echoed across the whole area. Without warning, all the trees began tipping forward. "What…the…" Kiba couldn't even finish his sentence as the tree he was on picked up speed in its decent.

He quickly scampered top side to the tree, Akamaru right behind him.

Gaara's eyes widened in surprise as all the trees descended upon him. He could only raise more sand to his defense as they all piled on top of him. After a full minute of creaking and crashing, the trees finally grew silent as they sank partially into the quicksand that Gaara had made earlier. Each Naruto jumped up on the topside of one of the downed trees. One of them was still holding onto Kankuro.

The original walked up to Kiba and gave him a nice pat on the back. "Told you I had this." Naruto said cheerfully.

"Did you…beat him?" Kiba asked in astonishment. He didn't even care what Naruto had done, as long as it finally did the trick.

"Of course not." Naruto said as he began walking towards the center of the toppled trees. Suddenly they all started rumbling. Sand burst violently from the center of the trees and Gaara slowly emerged from his protective barrier, laughing maniacally.

"Fantastic! This is absolutely fantastic, Uzumaki Naruto!" Gaara's laughter slowly died but a truly wicked grin remained on his face. "Killing you will without a doubt transform me into a perfect being! I can hardly wait!" Sand fired in violent whips towards Naruto.

Naruto raised his chakra knives and slashed at the sand. It split apart and fell uselessly around him. "Don't be an idiot, Gaara! You've seen what these knives can do! No matter how tough your guard, there's no way it'll withstand a slash by these." The sand that lay around Naruto turned into spikes and shot upwards. Naruto ducked and swung his blade again. The sand was again split apart. "Gaara, please! Can't you see I want to be your friend? You don't have to be lonely anymore!" Gaara's sand whipped outwards again and Naruto was forced to roll out of the way and onto a different tree.

"What would you know about being alone?" Gaara yelled. "I've seen you surrounded by all those people. By teammates who don't tremble at your very existence! The only thing we have in common is the burden we carry of being a human sacrifice!" Sand continued to whip wildly, forcing Naruto to roll closer to Gaara to avoid being struck.

"You're wrong! I do know what it's like! I was alone most of my life! It is the worst feeling in the world!" Naruto rose up and stood completely still. Sand slammed down next to him but he didn't flinch. "But it changed when I got a team! I found people who care!" A whip of sand slammed into his head, causing blood to run down his face. "You can be accepted too! I can help you!" Gaara's sand stopped and it all slowly retreated back into his gourd.

"It's too late for me, Uzumaki Naruto." Gaara said quietly. "My hand has been long stained by the blood of others." The sand in his gourd sprung back into life. "You hear me, Uzumaki Naruto? It's too late for me!"

"Tch, damn!" Naruto dove out of the way as sand again began flinging wildly about. "If I can't get you to see reason by talking then I'll just have to beat the shit outta you and shove it in your face!" All four Naruto's began sprinting towards Gaara, each one rolling and slashing their way through the sand, attempting to get to him.

"Die already!" Gaara roared as a whip made contact with one of the clones, slamming it into the ground and dispelling it. Each Naruto was now only thirty feet away. A couple feet closer and another clone was popped out of existence. Only two Naruto's remained as they dove closer to their target. Gaara's sand nailed the last clone, popping it as well.

"Just you and me!" All of Gaara's sand switched towards the remaining Naruto.

"I guess this is gonna have to be close enough!" With a great roar, Naruto swung his blade at Gaara. All the sand stopped at once. Time seemed to stand still for everyone. Gaara stared at Naruto with wide eyes. Naruto peered at that sand looming over him. Kiba watched in horror as Naruto appeared to be moments from being crushed to death.

Finally, the sand fell harmlessly to the ground around Naruto. The boy let out a sigh of relief as a red slash appeared across Gaara, from his right shoulder to his left hip. Blood sprayed forward and Gaara fell to his knees, still staring at Naruto in shock.

"Wh…what is all this?" Gaara's eye slowly shifted down to the blood around him. "What is this strange feeling?"

"Don't worry, I cut you just enough to immobilize you. As long as you don't move around, this won't kill you." Naruto said as crouched down in front of Gaara. "It's fortunate I managed to get so close though, the farther away, the harder it is to control the exact length of those wind blades."

"Naruto, you got him!" Kiba shouted as he jogged up to the two of them. Akamaru, still shaped like Kiba, was right next to him.

Naruto turned slowly to Kiba and gave him a small smile. "Yeah, I got him."

"So what now? You don't intend to let him live do you?" Kiba had heard most of Naruto's pleas, but wasn't really sure what to make of them.

Before Naruto could answer, a blood curdling scream caused them both to spin around and look at Gaara. He was holding his head, shaking violently, his eyes transfixed on the blood around him. "Blood! There's so much of _my _blood!" The sand around them sprang back to life and began to wrap itself tightly around Gaara.

"What the hell is going on?" Kiba said as he took a couple nervous steps back.

"I don't know!" Naruto rose to his feet. "Gaara! Calm down! It's going to be okay!" More incoherent screams was the only answer Naruto received. Without warning a giant poof of smoke filled the area. When it all cleared, a giant tanuki of sand stood where Gaara had once been.

"What…is that?" Kiba whispered as he stared up in horror at the thing that stood as tall as the trees around them.

"It couldn't be…" Naruto said, not even hearing Kiba's question. "He transformed into his demon!"

The giant monster's head shifted slightly to look down at them. "Uzumaki Naruto…" The creature spoke with Gaara's voice. "You'll pay for hurting me in such a way! Die!" Gaara roared as he punched at the ground where Naruto and Kiba were.

* * *

"You do not look all that surprised that I just killed your teammate." Lee said as he watched Misumi. "Nor upset." He added after a moment of thought.

"If that idiot was dumb enough to be killed by a single kid, then that's his fault." Misumi said as he got up from off of Choji's back. "It has nothing to do with me."

Lee's eye twitched slightly. "Nothing to do with you." Lee repeated slowly. "He was your teammate! How can you be so cold! At the very least you should realize that you cannot pass without him!"

Misumi laughed out loud when Lee finished his outburst, something that only infuriated the genin further. "Pass the exam? I don't give a damn about these exams! I only entered under orders! With that idiot dead, I don't have to worry about passing anymore! I can just go crazy and kill all of you little shits as slowly as I want!"

"You make me sick!" Lee cleared the distance between himself and his opponent in a single step and punched him hard in the face. Misumi's head spun around several times and stopped facing backwards. Lee stepped back in surprise.

Misumi's head spun back around and his face was facing Lee again. "If I recall correctly, you told Yoroi how unfortunate he was, having to fight someone his ability had no use against." Lee grit his teeth and took another step backwards. "Now you are in the same position. Your taijutsu will have no effect against my body. I can dislodge my bones at will, allowing me to bend my body any way I want." Misumi charged at Lee, fist raised.

Lee brought his arm up to catch his fist. To his surprise, Misumi's fist bent and his arm spiraled around Lee's arm. It then constricted, keeping Lee from putting distance between himself and his opponent. Misumi threw another punch that connected with Lee's face. Lee stumbled backwards.

"Where do you think you're going?" Misumi tugged him back and threw another punch. Lee caught his fist this time and sent a strong kick into Misumi's gut, knocking him backwards. Lee gave a tug of his own, pulling Misumi back to him.

"Two can play at that game!" Lee jumped in the air and delivered a spinning kick to Misumi's head. His head bounced sideways and then straightened immediately back out.

"Bastard, we'll see how you like it when I break your wrist!" Misumi constricted his grip more but nothing happened. "What the hell?"

"You cannot break my wrist when I am stronger than you are!" Lee punched Misumi in the face again, knocking his neck completely backwards. Misumi uncoiled his arm and let himself stumble away from Lee.

"You broke my nose!" Misumi's voice came out nasally as he held his hand below his chin. Blood dribbled down into his open palm.

"So at the very least, your cartilage can be broken." Lee said with interest. "In fact, if I recall, you never said anything about your bones being immune to damage. You just said you can just disjoint them."

Misumi sneered from under his veil. "Oh, did I guess right?" Lee asked as he stretched his arms.

"Even if you are right, it'll do you no good. You'll never be able to break them when I can simply stretch out of harms way." Misumi said as he slowly approached Lee again.

"We'll see about that." Lee said as he reached into his back pouch and pulled out his nunchaku. He gave it an experimental swing before he settled into a stance with it.

"You think that toy will help you?" Misumi laughed as he charged towards Lee again. "I know for a fact that you're just acting tough! Even if you don't use chakra for Ninjutsu, everyone needs chakra to survive! You opened the gate to hide your own weakness!"

"That may be true but I still have enough strength left to defeat you!" Lee said as he met Misumi's charge. He swung his weapon and Misumi swung his arm like a whip. The two clashed into each other and bounced backwards. Misumi's leg stretched behind Lee and pulled forward in an attempt to trip him. Lee back flipped and landed expertly on his feet. He then made a series of quick jabs into his opponents chest with his nunchaku. Misumi swung his arm, wrapping it around Lee's waist.

He hoisted Lee into the air and swung him over his body. He then slammed Lee painfully into the ground. He picked him up and did it again. He repeated the process several times until he released his grip. Lee lay motionless on the ground, bleeding profusely from the massive beating he just received.

"That's what you get for using one of the inner gates against Yoroi. Your normal dexterity and agility was greatly weakened thanks to your ignorant usage of su-" Misumi was interrupted as he vomited up a heap of blood. "Wha-" Misumi bent over and coughed up more.

"Looks like you did not notice." Lee said as he sat up. "When I made those series of jabs, I broke all of the ribs in your body."

"So what?" Misumi's nasally voice came out breathlessly. Breathing was quickly becoming difficult for him. He put his hands against the floor and hurled more blood.

"So, I punctured both of your lungs multiple times with your own ribcage." Lee explained. "Your lungs are slowly filling with your own blood. In just a matter of moments, you will drown in it." Lee shakily rose to his feet. He put his nunchaku back into his pouch.

"You bast-" Misumi hulked up more blood and collapsed completely.

"Your arrogance in your ability cost you this fight, and your life." Lee said as he walked over to Shikamaru. He hoisted the shadow user up slowly. "Are you okay?"

"Peachy." Shikamaru said as he let Lee gently move him back over to where Ino and the campfire was. "We owe you one."

"Nah, I know you would do the same for me." Lee laid Shikamaru down as gently as he could but the boy still hissed in pain.

"Lee, once you get Choji over here, just leave us. Their third teammate could come back soon. You won't be able to beat him."

"These wounds are nothing, Shikamaru-kun! I was simply putting on a good show!" Lee flexed his muscles and gave Shikamaru a toothy smile.

"No, it's not that, this guy, he isn't normal. There's no way he should still be a Genin. Something is up here. Those guys didn't enter the exam to get a promotion. They're here under orders. I think they infiltrated the village." Shikamaru shifted slightly from where he lay.

"Those are some serious accusations, Shikamaru-kun." Lee stared at him for a long moment. "But I agree with you." Lee gave a small whistle. The shadow clone Naruto had made landed down next to him an instant later. "Dispel so the original knows what happened here. I'm going to take these three back to the igloo." Lee ordered.

"You got it!" The clone saluted and then vanished in a cloud of smoke.

* * *

"You're dead!" Zaku shouted as he continually fired bursts of wind that Hinata was easily dodging.

"Jyuuken!" Hinata charged with her hands ready to emit chakra. She swung her arm just as Zaku fired a shot of wind. The two forces collided in a violent blast of energy. A minor explosion knocked both of their arms backwards. Hinata recovered first and swung hard with her other arm, catching Zaku right in the chin, sending him flying with the strength of the blow.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Sasuke inhaled deeply and then breathed out a giant ball of fire. Dosu rolled out of the way and made another attempt to get close to Sasuke. The Uchiha ran through more hand seals but wasn't fast enough as Dosu got within range and swung his arm. To his annoyance, Sasuke dissolved into mud right in front of him.

"Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!" Dosu turned tiredly towards a volley of fireballs approaching him.

"Damn it, that hurt!" Zaku rubbed his chin as he slowly stood back up. "You're really going to pay." He said as he angled his hands back at Hinata again.

"As I thought," Hinata said, causing Zaku to lower his hands a little. "You and your partner are both one trick horses. You both rely heavily upon your weapons to do anything."

Zaku clenched his teeth. "Lets see you say that to me when you're laying dead on the ground!" Zaku fired his cannons again.

"You keep making these threats." Hinata stepped to the side, easily avoiding the wind blasts. "Yet you make no show of backing them up."

"Why you cocky bitch!" Zaku fired another round of blasts. Hinata slipped easily in between them again.

"Jyuuken!" Hinata yelled as she thrust both arms forward and into Zaku's stomach. The boy was lifted off of his feet and fell unconscious before he hit the ground.

Dosu jumped out of the way as Sasuke's hands erupted from the snow beneath him. "You won't get me with that technique like you did Zaku!" Dosu looked over just in time to watch his last standing teammate collapse from the assault Hinata just dealt him. He sighed in annoyance. There was no winning at this rate.

"Stop! I surrender!" Dosu yelled as Sasuke began running through more seals. Dosu pulled out an earth scroll and laid it down on the snowy ground. "I'll give you this in exchange for me and my teammate's life! I can also promise you that we won't attack again during the remainder of this exam!" Sasuke eyed him carefully, looking for some kind of trickery.

"Let him go!" Hinata said as she approached the two of them. "His scroll is real. They can't pass anyways so they have no further need to attack you." Sasuke looked towards Hinata and then back at Dosu. He lowered his hands and gave Dosu a small nod.

Dosu bowed down to them. "Thank you for your kindness!" He then got up and walked over to Zaku. After hoisting him onto his shoulders, he wordlessly jumped away.

"You think he'll be back?" Sasuke asked as he walked over and picked up the scroll.

Hinata shrugged. "For now, I'll let you hold onto the scroll. Lee-senpai and Naruto-kun should be back in a couple hours at most. If all goes well, they should have a scroll."

Sasuke shrugged and pocketed the scroll. "You have a lot of confidence in your teammates."

"They are both strong. It is thanks to them I can even fight like this." Hinata picked up a couple of the arrows she had fired and slipped them back into her quiver.

"You killed that girl without hesitation. Is that your first kill?" Sasuke caught sight of the bloody arrow that had killed Kin. He was beginning to wonder what happened to the shy girl back in the academy. What happened to the clan loser Neji always talked about?

"No. On our first C-rank mission I was forced to take the lives of others." Hinata began cleaning the arrow that had gone through Kin's head. "I've learned that if it means I can protect those important to me I cannot hesitate."

Sasuke stared hard at the back of Hinata's head for a few seconds. "You mean Neji?" He finally said after much deliberation. Hinata stiffened slightly. She then got up and turned towards him.

"Neji-nii-san may resent me for the past but I cannot bring myself to hate him. We are family." She slipped the last arrow into her quiver.

Sasuke stared at her hard for a few minutes. Her reason didn't settle well with him. After all, he wanted nothing more than to kill his own brother. Instead of saying anything about it, he decided to focus on the topic at hand. "Anyways. We owe you one. If there is a way we can repay you later, just let us know."

Hinata stared at him for a few seconds. "It's appreciated but I didn't do it expecting anything in return." Before Sasuke could say anything more, she turned and cupped her hands over her mouth. "Clone-kun! You can come out now!" As she said that, Naruto came flying from the trees and landed down in front of Hinata, her bow in his hands. "Oh, Clone-kun, you found my bow." Hinata took it from him and gave the clone a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thank you! Now let the original know what happened."

The clone nodded and poofed out of existence, a visible blush still on his face before he did.

* * *

Naruto landed at that base of where the trees had been cut down by himself. Kiba and Akamaru were tucked under one of each of his arms. "Whew, that was close!" Naruto said as he dropped the two to the ground.

"Close is what you call it? It's a darn miracle we escaped at all!" Kiba looked up at Naruto and all the annoyance drained from his face. "Naruto? Why are you covered in red chakra?"

"That's not important. Kiba before that thing figures out that we aren't underneath its paw, you gotta get out of here." Naruto watched as the giant tanuki continually slammed its fist into the spot where they once were.

"What? I thought we told you already-"

"Kiba!" Naruto interrupted him. He then turned to face him and Kiba felt his knees weaken at Naruto's glare. "You're in the way! I can't fight and protect you at the same time!"

Normally Kiba would have a comeback to that, but his mind had temporary frozen at the moment. The only thing he could do was nod in agreement. Akamaru slowly stood up and put his hand on his master's shoulder. Kiba seemed to snap awake at that moment.

"Naruto…you better not die." Kiba said before he and his dog took off away from the battlefield.

"Idiot, I can't die yet. I haven't become the Hokage." Naruto tightened his grip as his chakra knives.

At that moment, Gaara finally realized that Naruto wasn't being crushed to death by his fist. He quickly began to scan the area, but it didn't take long to notice Naruto's glowing, red form. "There you are…Uzumaki Naruto. So it would appear you can tap into your demon's chakra like I can the Shukaku's."

"Is that what that thing is called?" Naruto said, although he doubted Gaara could hear him. "What an ugly name. Although, I guess it fits."

"Tell me how ugly it is when the life is being squeezed out of you!" Gaara roared. He spread his arms out wide and an armada of sand shuriken began spewing from the demon's stomach.

"Damn…that thing would have good ears." Naruto jumped backwards into the trees in an attempt to take cover. Unfortunately for him, the trees stood no chance as they were assaulted by the storm of shuriken. The trees were shredded like paper and soon Naruto found himself having to dodge a countless number of them anyways. There were too many for him to keep up with though and soon Naruto was pelted by half a dozen of them, sending him crashing into the ground.

"How do you like that? Uzumaki Naruto!" Gaara's laughter echoed across the forest.

Naruto slowly stood himself back up, his wounds already beginning to seal back up. The snow around him was melting from his demon's aura. "Why don't you tell me how you like this! My own version of my first water jutsu!" Naruto threw his knives into the air and began running through a set of seals.

"Sution: Daisuiben no Jutsu!" The water all around Naruto rose up and began to form a massive stream. Naruto used the water to pick up a downed tree. He then flung the tree right at Shukaku's body. The giant demon was easily able to catch the tree without much difficulty at all. However, it left it open for the whip to smash with great force into the unprotected monster, knocking it over and down into the ground. Naruto dropped the whip immediately after using it, water rolled everwhere in a massive wave, parts of it washing over him. The red chakra around him disappeared and he fell to the ground panting. His chakra blades hit the ground around him.

"That's not enough! I have to keep going!" Naruto closed his eyes and focused hard. More of the red chakra instantly began wrapping around his body. Naruto felt all his fatigue disappearing. "This is going to get dangerous if I keep doing this." Naruto said aloud, Yamato-sensei's warning of suffering from something called severe chakra burn if he used the aura more than twice in a day ringing in his head.

"I'm going to have to take it out with this next strike, at the very least I have to immobilize him. If I could just figure out where Gaara was in that massive thing." Naruto surveyed the massive creature as it clumsily got back to its feet. It was clear that Gaara was not used to controlling the massive body. He probably rarely, if ever, entered this state. Still, the fact that he could was quite humbling to Naruto. If he ever took too much chakra from the Kyuubi, he could end up like him too.

Naruto picked up his knives and started moving carefully behind the tree line. The closer he could get before being spotted, the better chance he had at pulling this off. Unfortunately for him, it appeared as if Gaara could sense him now. He must have been picking up on his demonic aura.

"You can't escape from me!" The demon raised its giant arm and to Naruto's horror, sand began rising from all around him.

Naruto dove out from behind the trees and into the open clearing so he could see the sand better. He landed nimbly on a down tree and began sprinting towards the towering demon. That's when Naruto noticed it. The demon was breathing incredibly heavily. In fact, it looked like it was in intense pain. Could Gaara still be bleeding inside that thing?

"Hey, Gaara! You need to stop fighting now! The more you move about, the more you're going to bleed! You'll die if you keep fighting!" Naruto stopped running as sand whipped up from all around him. He spun in a circle, his blades activated. The sand broke apart around him and Naruto charged straight through. "Gaara! I know you can hear me! Stop this! Do you want to die?"

"Shut up! Don't act like you are actually concerned about me!" Gaara yelled as he turned around and swung his massive tail towards Naruto.

Naruto dropped low and hugged the surface of the tree he was on. Shukaku's tail flew over him by mere inches. He slowly stood back up. "But I am concerned about you! I don't want you to die! I finally found someone exactly like me!"

"I already told you! We are nothing alike!" Gaara rose his massive arm and swung down at Naruto again. This time the boy was forced to jump out of the way as the hand tore the tree he had been on to splinters. The demon's breath was getting heavier and more ragged.

"I have no choice then! To stop you from moving, I'm gonna have to knock your ass down!" Naruto pumped all the chakra he could into one of his blades and swung hard at Shukaku's leg. It slammed into the leg and halted after barely getting a quarter of the way through. "No way! It didn't cut!"

"You're annoying!" Gaara swung his cut leg outwards in a kick. Naruto had no way of dodging this time and he was flung well across the clearing of fallen trees right into a still standing one.

Naruto let out a small groan as he slid down into the soft snow beneath him. "I'm so glad this aura is on right now…I really think that would've killed me if I had been normal." Naruto stumbled back to his feet in time to see another barrage of shuriken flying at him.

"If that's how you want to play it, Gaara! I'll just have to defeat you, so I can save you!" Naruto gave a bestial roar and charged straight into the storm of sand. He jumped, ducked, rolled, and weaved his way through all the sand with great speed, every step bringing him closer to his goal.

"Alright! Two blades this time!" Naruto stuck both blades on one hand and focused what was left of the red chakra into them. "Take this, Gaara!" Naruto swung again, this time the blades slashed straight through what was left of the leg like it was butter. Gaara could do nothing to maintain his balance and began to fall forward.

"Not good!" Naruto had to backpedal fast before he got flattened by the falling tanuki. He just barely got clear when the thing hit the ground, the massive shockwave from the force sending him flying.

"Damn…damn you, Uzumaki Naruto…" Gaara rumbled, his breath coming in short gasps at this point. "I'll kill you, I'll kill you yet." The beast itself was no longer speaking as Gaara slowly emerged from the its forehead. He was bleeding profusely from his massive cut.

"Gaara! You must understand by now! We have to stop! You don't have the blood left to go on, and I'm pretty much taxed on chakra too!" Naruto said as he stumbled back towards the now visible redhead.

"This can't be…how can I lose…to someone like you…when I'm so close...to perfection." Gaara's head slowly drooped over and he shut his eyes.

"Gaara. Hey, that's not funny. Gaara! You're alright, aren't you? Gaara!" Each time Naruto said his name, his voice got a little louder. Suddenly the Shukaku started breathing again, but that didn't make sense, Gaara was still visible. Then Naruto noticed something troubling. Before, the demon's eyes had been a faded and dull yellow. Now they seemed vibrant. They seemed…alive.

"Whoo-hoo! Finally!" A voice that wasn't Gaara's roared as the beast slowly started to rise itself up! "It's been forever since the kid has fallen asleep in this form! Hot dog! The wind feels fantastic!"

"Is that…the real Shukaku?" Naruto couldn't believe what he was seeing. If the beast was alive though, that meant Gaara had to be too. So that meant he still had time.

Shukaku started to stand up but immediately fell over. "Aww damn! That kid got reckless and loss me a leg." The tanuki stuck its tail underneath itself and then stood back up to his full height. "Yeah, this'll work just fine!" Shukaku gave a great big laugh.

Naruto swung his chakra blade with all his might. Only the very tip of the blade cut into the demon's other leg though, and lacked any force to slice the sand at all. Naruto stumbled down to one knee, panting heavily. "Damn it! I guess I really am out of chakra! I may have no choice but to pull on the fox's power again."

"Y'ow! Who the heck's poking me down there?" Shukaku peered down and caught sight of Naruto instantly. "Oh? Just a wee lil' feller? I know, how about we play a game?" The beast said while it clapped at the idea.

Naruto ignored the beast and focused hard on pulling out more chakra. "Here's how the game goes! I try to kill you, and you just stand there and die! You got it?" Shukaku didn't wait for a response. "Okay then here we go!" The tanuki inflated his stomach and then slammed down on it with one of its fist. "Futon: Renkudan!" The beast spit a giant air bullet straight at Naruto who disappeared just before it hit.

"Sorry, but I don't want to play your game! This time the fox's aura will only last a few seconds, enough for one slash!" Naruto swung his blade at the demons neck this time.

"Don't be such a meanie!" The Shukaku used its tail to launch itself straight into the air. Naruto's blade missed completely.

"No way!" Naruto's eyes followed the beast as it rocketed into the air. "It can jump!" It was much more coordinated then Gaara had been when he was in control.

"Futon: Renkudan!" Naruto realized too late that he let his surprise cost him. The air bullet slammed with full force into his body, rocketing him downwards towards the still mushy ground. Pieces of mud were flung everywhere as Naruto's body formed a massive crater in the ground.

Just as he finally stopped moving, the foxes aura disappeared. "Heh! Looks like the damn thing saved my life again. Although this time, I think every bone in my body is broken." Naruto couldn't bring himself to move at all. Not even to wipe away the blood that was leaking into one of his eyes.

"Aww man…you ain't dead yet?" Shukaku landed on the ground outside of the crater, causing a miniature earthquake as he did.

"Well I'll just have to fix tha-" Shukaku was cut off as an explosion hit it in the face.

"What? Who?" Naruto tried to turn his head, but couldn't.

"Naruto, are you okay?" A strand of pink hair came into his view.

"Sakura?" Naruto asked in surprise. "What are you doing, get out of here!"

"Not without you! When Kiba showed up without you, I immediately came back. There's no way I could live with myself if we let an idiot like you die for us." Sakura bent down to pick him up.

"Where they hell d'you think you're going with my toy?" Sakura whipped around in surprise. Shukaku was completely unharmed.

"Sakura, you have to run!" Naruto yelled. "You're no match for it!"

Sakura turned back to Naruto and smiled sadly at him. "No way." She said adamantly. She then turned back to the Shukaku and spread her arms out. "You'll have to blast through me too if you want to kill him!"

"Sakura! No! Don't do this!" Naruto propped his elbows and attempted to lift himself back up but fell down immediately.

The Shukaku laughed happily. "Yes! Now I get to kill two of 'em!" He inflated his stomach back up. "Futon:"

"Sakura, run!"

"I won't!" Both genin closed their eyes and waited for the wind blast to kill them. They waited a few moments but nothing happened. They both opened their eyes back up and slowly looked up at the Shukaku. To their surprise…he was crumbling.

"No!" The beast roared! "How is this possible? I can't be dieing! I just finally got free! It's not fair!" The Shukaku kept shouting unintelligibly as its mouth fell apart. Soon the giant beast was no more.

Complete silence rang across the forest. Not a single creature dared to make a noise.

Finally, Sakura slipped down to her knees, she was shaking hard. "D-did it say it was dieing?"

"Sakura." The pink haired girl quickly turned back to the broken blond. "You have to get me up to Gaara."

Sakura gave him a questioning look. "Please…" Any doubts in Sakura's mind fled as she say the seriousness on Naruto's face.

"Alright." Sakura gently helped Naruto up, his arm wrapped around both of her shoulders. They slowly but surely, one foot in front of the other, began their ascent from the crater and up towards Gaara. When he finally came into sight, Naruto didn't like what he saw. Gaara lay there, motionless, in a pool of his own blood. To their surprise, Kankuro was already there, standing just a few feet away, his eyes wide. They both ignored him and Sakura stopped moving just outside of the blood. Naruto broke off from her there and stumbled up to the redhead. He kneeled right down, his clothes instantly covered in his opponents blood.

"Gaara…" Naruto knew he shouldn't be crying. He'd only know the guy for a little while, and all the time they'd been trying to kill each, yet Naruto felt like he'd known him all his life. And so, tears slid down, falling onto the redheads face.

"How…strange." Gaara slowly opened his eyes, surprising everyone there.

"Gaara!" Naruto was the only one of them to say anything. "You're alive!"

"Not for much longer…the beast inside me has already…perished. I will soon follow it." Gaara looked skywards, his eyes glazed over.

"No, Gaara, you can't die! You're not supposed to die!" Naruto said as more tears fell down and hit Gaara's face.

"It's funny. I didn't think anyone would cry for me when I died." Naruto's eyes widened. He had said the exact same thing to Lee when he thought he was dying.

"Thank you…Uzumaki Naruto." Gaara's breath became almost nonexistent. "I believe…that if I would have just given you the chance…we would have made great friends." Gaara closed his eyes and all breath left his body.

"Gaara! Open your eyes! Gaara!" Naruto violently shook the redhead that laid on the ground in front of him. "You can't die! Not like this! If you die like this that means that I killed you!" Gaara didn't respond. Naruto slowly begin to realize that he would never be able to respond. He was dead.

"Naruto…" Sakura took a slight step closer when the other person there started chuckling. She looked up in surprise at Kankuro. Naruto did the same.

"I can't believe it." Kankuro said quietly. "I can't believe someone actually managed to kill Gaara!" Kankuro burst out into complete laughter. "You're amazing! You Konoha Genin are truly something!" Kankuro had to hold his side to catch his breath. "Finally, that bastard is dead." He wheezed out.

"You asshole!" Naruto stumbled forward and slugged the older Genin right in the face. Kankuro stumbled backwards and Naruto lost his own balance, still greatly wounded from his previous fight.

"What the hell?" Kankuro asked. "I don't want to fight you!" He nurtured his wounded cheek.

"Well I wanna fight you!" Naruto roared from the ground. "He was your teammate damn it! He was part of your village! Don't you dare laugh at him cause of this!"

"He was no teammate or brother of mine!" Kankuro shouted back.

"Brother…?" Naruto whispered in shock.

"That's right, even if we shared parents, I will never recognize that creep as a blood relative! He deserved what he got!" Naruto was prepared to shout at him again but Sakura instantly cleared the distance and slapped Kankuro for him. "What the hell is with you people?" Kankuro now held his other cheek.

"No!" Sakura shouted. "What the hell is wrong with you? You are the worst kind of scum in the world! How could you say those terrible things about your own brother?" Naruto looked at Sakura in shock.

"You…if you knew about his history, you would know why." Kankuro brought up his arm to hit Sakura back.

"I do know…" Naruto said, causing him to stop. "I know exactly the kind of past he had. Being hated by everyone in his village. Receiving looks of disgust for something he had no control over. Having all the other kid's parents tell them to stay away from him." Sakura stared sadly at the blonde boy.

"You…have one too?" Kankuro finally started to fit the puzzles together.

"That's right!" Naruto glared up at him. "I have the Kyuubi no Yoko sealed inside of me and everyone in the village hated me for it!" Sakura let out a small gasp and Kankuro's eyes widened. "I always used to wonder what it would be like to have a family." Naruto continued on. "To have an older brother who would look out for me and protect me from everyone. A mom and dad who would actually love me."

Sakura felt tears start to form around her own eyes. Meanwhile, Kankuro's face became more and more impassive as Naruto spoke.

"But now I'm starting to wonder, would they have treated me like you guys treated him?" Naruto slowly got back to his feet. "Would they have laughed if they knew I was dead?" Naruto asked his unanswerable questions.

"Like hell I'd know." Kankuro spat. "Look, I don't care anymore. He's dead and there is nothing you can do. But you can take the earth scroll that he has." Kankuro gestured to Gaara's body. "We have no need for it anymore. I'm going to go find my sister." Kankuro turned away from the two Genin and his dead brother and began to stroll off.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Naruto took a step after him but stumbled. Sakura caught him before he could hit the ground. "Get back here so I can kick your ass!"

"Naruto, just let him go. You can't fight him in this state." Sakura whispered gently.

"Why…why do people have to be that way?" Naruto said so only Sakura could here. Kankuro was getting farther and farther away. Sakura said nothing and slowly led Naruto back towards Gaara.

"You should be thankful!" Both turned to see Kankuro standing still and looking at him. "Without Gaara, you ruined the plans of our village. Otogakure won't dare make a move now either!" Having said that he turned back around and left.

"What do you think he meant by that?" Sakura asked curiously. Naruto shook his head. He didn't know either.

Sakura set him down gently and then began shifting through Gaara's belongings, looking for the scroll. Naruto sat there in silence as she did. Finally, Sakura cleared her throat. Naruto made no reaction so she decided to talk anyways.

"Did you…uh…did you mean it?" Sakura paused before gathering the courage to press on. "Do you really have the Kyuubi sealed inside you?"

Naruto nodded slowly. His eyes never left Gaara's lifeless face. Sakura didn't say anything again until she had the scroll. She pocketed it in her pouch and walked over to stand in front of Naruto.

"I…I'm sorry." Sakura said.

"About what?" Naruto asked bitterly.

"About a lot of things right now. But mostly, for the way I treated you in the past. I didn't know…" Sakura paused. There was no point in finishing that sentence.

"You're not the only one." Naruto replied. Then he sighed. "Not like it matters, it's in the past. Besides, it's hard to know when they'll kill you if you tell anyone." He slowly struggled to stand back up.

"Let me help you! I know where my teammates are heading." Sakura stepped forward to give Naruto a hand. "You can stay with us until you're strong enough to move." Naruto shook his head.

"I'm not going anywhere just yet. Not until I dig Gaara a proper grave and pay him my respects." Naruto pulled out a kunai and stumbled up to a part of the ground that wasn't destroyed or covered by trees. "The ground has mostly hardened back up now, but it should still should be soft enough for me to dig through." Naruto started stabbing his kunai into the ground and began picking clumps of dirt out of it.

Sakura watched him sadly before she walked over next to him and stuck her hands into the still soft dirt. She pulled out a big amount and threw it to the side. She continued this multiple times until she noticed Naruto had stopped. When she looked up, he was staring at her, confusion evident on his face.

"Aren't you worried about your hands getting dirty? Or breaking a nail?" Naruto finally asked.

Sakura smiled slightly before setting back to work. "Idiot, I'm a Kunoichi now, not some pampered princess." She heard Naruto give the smallest laugh before he threw his kunai aside and began digging again.

Sakura had long since lost track of time before they finally got done digging. She knew they must have at least spent a couple hours at it though. The ground had been much harder the lower they had gone had working had soon become strenuous labor. Very little conversation had passed between them the whole time as well. Nevertheless, they had finished and were now throwing the dirt back upon Gaara whom Naruto had laid into the pit already.

"That should do it." Sakura said as she patted the mound of dirt down a little. "I have to say though, it's a miracle nobody attacked us while we we've been here."

"Anyone who was close enough to see the Shukaku probably turned tail and ran. I doubt anyone will be coming by this part of the forest the rest of the exam." Naruto said as he ripped off a decently sized piece of bark. He stuck it in the front of the mound. "Sorry Gaara, I know it isn't much, but this is going to have to do for you." Naruto said as he scribbled the boy's name on it.

He then kneeled down in front of it and clapped his hands together. Sakura mimicked his action and they both silently prayed for the boy. After a few moments of silence, they both opened their eyes.

"Lets get going." Naruto said as he slowly stood back up. When he went to walk he stumbled forward again.

"Idiot!" Sakura said as she caught him. "There's no way you are going to be healed enough to move on your own. Let me help you." Naruto nodded silently as Sakura began to help him walk away.

"There you guys are!" Both Sakura and Naruto looked up to the trees to see Kiba and Shino standing there. Akamaru rested happily on Kiba's head. "We thought you were both goners!" Kiba shouted, relief evident in his voice. They both jumped down to the forest floor, next to Naruto and Sakura. Shino made it with Kiba's assistance.

"Shino…" Naruto spoke first. "Is there…I mean…" Naruto fumbled for the right words. "Are you alright?" He finally asked. He couldn't take his eyes off of the spot where Shino's arm was supposed to be.

"If you are asking if I feel any pain, then I am alright." Shino answered in monotone. "My Kikaichu secreted a special formula to stop the bleeding and numb the pain the second my arm was taken. I will be capable of surviving in this forest for the remainder of the exam, but my ability to contribute to getting the scroll will be nil while I am on the drug."

Naruto took a couple seconds to process what Shino had said. "But…I mean, can you still be a Shinobi?" His eyes still hadn't left the spot.

Shino adjusted his glasses slightly. "As an Aburame, I have always relied on my Kikaichu rather than normal shinobi methods. While I will be slightly stinted, my clan's jutsu do not require any hand seals. Therefore I will not be forced to halt my career."

Naruto nodded slowly as his brain ran through Shino's words to here. Finally, he smiled. "I'm glad that you don't have to quit Shino! You may be a weird guy, but no one should have their goals taken from them!" Shino pushed his glasses up again.

"Moving on! What are you guys still doing here? That guy isn't still alive is he?" Kiba tried to move the topic to safer ground but quickly realized his mistake as Naruto's face fell. "Oh…I see." Kiba recalled Naruto's words during the fight. If he looked like this, that meant only one outcome was possible.

"I notice you built a grave with his name on it." Shino observed, making Sakura and Naruto cringe. "Do not be alarmed. I am not upset. I am just making observations to determine the outcome of the battle. I also noticed that his sister is not where I hid her. So I can assume that the other brother found her and carried her off."

"Yeah, but he let Naruto have the scroll before he went off." Sakura pulled the scroll out of her pouch.

Shino nodded again. "Is that the scroll you need Naruto-san?"

"Hmm? I suppose, yeah." Naruto looked at the scroll and then all of the people present.

"Then what are you waiting for, go ahead and take it!" Kiba gestured to it.

"Are you guys sure?" Naruto asked as he skeptically reached for it.

"It is only logical. You are the one who defeated Gaara and you are the one in need of the scroll." Shino said as Naruto grabbed onto it and slipped it into his own pouch.

"So what are we going to do from here?" Kiba asked while looking at his teammates. "I doubt there is much we could do to pass anymore. We're down to no scrolls and Shino isn't in a state to be fighting."

"Our best move would be to head to the edge of the forest by the fence. Most teams will be heading inwards to get closer to the tower, not the other way." Shino said matter-of-factly.

"That's not a bad idea, but we need to make a detour." Everyone turned to Naruto.

"Trust me, you guys are going to want to come with me."


	18. The Forest of Death Part 4

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_The Forest of Death (Part 4)_

* * *

Hinata paced back in forth in anxiety as she waited for her teammates. They were late. The sun was beginning to set and they were nowhere to be found and she was starting to get nervous. What if they had been hurt?

"They'll be fine, you know?" Sasuke shouted towards her, attempting to calm her nerves. It apparently didn't work as she showed no signs of slowing her pacing down.

Sasuke was going to say more but a sudden groan from inside the igloo caught his attention. He ran up to it just as Tenten was emerging from it. She was holding her ribs tenderly as she stood completely straight. "Sasuke?" She asked in surprise. "And is that Hinata I see over there? Just what is going on?"

"When Neji wakes up I will explain. I don't like having to say things twice." Sasuke responded, getting a sharp glare from his older teammate.

"I'm awake." Neji's voice said from inside the igloo. "Although I'm too hurt to move on my own. Just go ahead and explain."

Sasuke quickly jumped into an explanation of everything that happened from the moment Haku showed up to their present situation. Tenten and Neji listened silently for the whole explanation.

"So my ribs are broken and Neji's in no condition to fight either." Tenten summed up. "We're now indebt to Hinata and her team and you're the only one we can rely on. We don't even have any scrolls."

"It sounds to me like Hinata-sama is letting us keep that earth scroll." Neji corrected Tenten.

"We can't keep it. She won it." Tenten slapped the top of the igloo as she berated Neji who was still inside it.

"Let's wait and see what Naruto and Lee come back with. They may have a scroll or two themselves." Sasuke said, attempting to diffuse the situation.

"Speaking of which, Lee just entered into my eyes range." Neji said and a moment later Hinata began running to the side of the clearing, having seen him herself. "He's with three others from your graduating class." He added.

"Don't tell me they saved another team..." Sasuke grumbled as he ran over towards Hinata. Just as he arrived next to her, Lee and Chouji appeared in the clearing. Lee was carrying Shikamaru and Chouji was carrying an unconscious Ino.

"Hinata!" Lee half-shouted, half-panted. "They were attacked by a group working for that Orochimaru guy!"

Sasuke furrowed his brows and Hinata looked even more worried. "Just how many teams does he have entered in this tournament?" Hinata asked as she placed her hand on her chin. "We were attacked by a team working for him too."

"It's not really working for him if he's dead." Shikamaru pointed out the inconsistency.

"Trying to avenge him then." Sasuke said flatly as he glared at the pineapple-head.

"I actually do not think they knew...at least it did not seem like they did." Lee said skeptically.

Hinata nodded in agreement. "The ones that attacked us didn't know yet either. They clearly thought they were under orders though so someone else is controlling them for sure."

Lee looked around and noticed someone was missing. "By the way, where is Naruto?"

Hinata shook her head. "I was really hoping you had heard something." The worry in her voice was strongly evident.

"No worries, we got him!" A new voice shouted as Team Eight emerged from the brush. This time Kiba was gingerly helping Shino along while Sakura was letting Naruto lean on her.

"Shino-san...your arm!" Chouji gasped loudly as he looked at the spot where Shino's arm should have been.

"What the hell happened?" Sasuke asked as he gazed at Naruto who was drenched in blood.

"I fought Gaara..." Naruto mumbled, his eyes locked on the ground. Sakura gave him a sideways look, clearly feeling sad for him.

"You what?" Hinata and Lee asked at once. They couldn't believe he had been so reckless.

"How did that happen? How did you get away?" Lee continued after he and Hinata shared a look.

"It's my fault." Sakura interjected. "I got my team caught by his and Naruto showed up to save us.

"It's just a team of freaking heroes." Sasuke threw his arms in the air in disbelief. Just how many people were these guys going to save? At this rate they were going to help half the participating teams pass.

"You still didn't answer what happened..." Hinata pressed quietly.

"I killed him." Naruto spat out. Lee and Hinata's eyes widened in surprise.

"There's more." Shino spoke up now as he looked from Naruto to his teammates. "We believe Sunagakure is somehow in with Otogakure. They may even be planning an invasion against Konohagakure."

Sasuke, Hinata, and Lee all met each others gaze. "Are you thinking the same thing?" Sasuke asked.

They both nodded but Hinata answered. "That means Suna was also working with Orochimaru."

"It sounds like we have a lot to discuss, maybe we should build a fire?" Shikamaru suggested. The sun had set and he was starting to freeze.

Fifteen minutes later and all twelve of the Genin were now conscious and gathered around a big fire. They had no fear of being attacked, since there was twelve of them.

"So...where do we go from here?" Choji nervously broke the silence that had settled over the group of gathered Genin.

"First, we need to deduce how many scrolls we have between the four teams." Shino responded in a flat tone of voice.

"Well, ours was crushed by the Gaara kid but Naruto retrieved an Earth Scroll from him." Kiba was prodding the fire with a small branch he had found while he talked.

"Kabuto took ours and still has the one that belonged to his team." Shikamaru was staring straight upwards, probably imagining that he could see the clouds.

"Does any of this even matter?" The now conscious Ino asked in annoyance. "The exam has been invaded by a group of evil Genin or stronger that are working for a now dead Sannin!"

"It does matter." Sasuke said vehemently. "I want to pass this exam no matter what."

"He's right." Neji nodded in agreement. It had been a pain for him to get out of the igloo and to the fire at all and he found the conversation incredibly irritating at the moment. "It was just our fate that things ended up this way. However, the fact doesn't change that we came in here knowing we were going to be surrounded by enemies."

"Neji is right!" Lee's shout was in stark contrast to everyone else's hush voices. "We came here to fight anyone that got in our way! No matter who the enemy or how strong!"

"I don't want to hear that from the guy on the team that's just saved three teams." Tenten said while chuckling. It was really just like Lee to do something like that.

"Back to the topic of scrolls." Hinata steered the conversation back on course. "Sasuke-san and I retrieved an Earth Scroll from the Otogakure team after both our teams lost our original scrolls in the fight against Orochimaru."

"So we have two Earth Scrolls between four teams..." Naruto mumbled as he produced the one he had and set it in the wet grass in front of himself. Sasuke, who was right next to him placed a scroll next to it.

"I think we should withdraw ourselves." Sakura raised her hand slightly into the air. "We can't fight with Shino in his condition and Naruto deserves one of those scrolls."

Shino and Kiba both nodded solemnly while Akamaru made a small whimper.

"We should withdraw too." Shikamaru turned his gaze away from the tree line. "Ino can't even walk and my injuries are too much for me." He looked at his team expectantly and they only too gladly nodded, having been thinking the same thing but glad Shikamaru had been the one to say it.

"Shall we proceed to the edge of the forest tomorrow at first light?" Shino asked, his gaze directed at Shikamaru and his team.

"Yeah, it'd be a great help if you'd let us stick with you guys since we're both retiring. After all, we aren't even allowed to leave until the five days is up." Shikamaru nodded to Shino.

"Well, that's that." Kiba smiled sadly as he patted Akamaru.

"I guess that makes this one ours." Naruto grimaced as he reached forward and picked his scroll back up.

"Hinata rightfully got this, but if you don't mind, we'll take it." Sasuke also picked up the other one.

Hinata nodded to him. "Our two teams should travel together as well until we can retrieve two Heaven Scrolls."

"And just why would we agree to that, Hinata-sama?" Neji spat coldly.

"Neji..." Tenten whispered harshly. "...now isn't the time. Sasuke is the only one we can rely on. We need them."

"It would be most excellent to have Sasuke-san aide us as well, seeing as Naruto can no longer fight due to his chakra burns." Lee hurriedly chimed in.

"So what are we going to do tomorrow?" Naruto asked, suddenly sounding bitter. "You're going to ditch me with Tenten and Neji while you guys and Sasuke go retrieve scrolls?"

"It's the best way, Naruto-kun." Hinata whispered quietly to him. "Lee-senpai nor I want to see you hurt anymore than you are." She gently touched one of the whiskers on his cheek as she said this.

"..." Naruto looked between Hinata and Lee for a couple moments before finally nodding. "I guess, I'm trusting my team to you, Sasuke. Don't mess it up."

Sasuke opened his mouth to retort, but Lee beat him to it. "So you three agree as well, of course?"

Tenten began nodding while Neji spoke. "I leave the decision in the hands of the only one in our group that can still fight." He gave Sasuke a hard look.

Sasuke interlaced his fingers in front of himself. "It's the only way. I can't back down here." He looked to Hinata and Lee. "I look forward to fighting with you Lee-san, Hinata."

Hinata and Lee both smiled and said something similar in return.

"So with that decided, we have to figure out how to let the Jonin know as soon as possible." Shikamaru spoke up again. "We won't see any for another three days at most and there is no guarantee you'll see them any sooner."

"Haku's watching. He'll report it." Naruto said flatly. It was a statement that confused everyone aside from his teammates and Sasuke.

"Haku-san is the proctor of this exam." Hinata quickly began to fill them in. "With his Kekkei Genkai he is able to monitor everything that is happening at once."

"And he didn't help us when a freaking Bijuu attacked?" Kiba half-yelled into the forest, hoping Haku could here him.

"Gaara was a Genin just like us." Naruto turned harshly on Kiba. "He was likely just being used as a weapon for whatever the hell it is they're planning. That's all they thought he was good for."

"Naruto-kun..." Hinata whispered sadly. She looked over to him before meeting Sakura's gaze. She too was looking at him in sympathy. It was then that Hinata realized she must also now know his secret.

"Sorry, I didn't mean any offense." Kiba, for his part, quickly retracted his statement. Silence rang over the group after that for almost a full minute.

"If that's all set, can we go to bed now?" Ino yawned tiredly as she said this.

Everyone else nodded solemnly and after decided the order for watches they all turned in for the night.

* * *

Kabuto sat inside the crater that had been created in Orochimaru's fight.

Dosu and Zaku were staring at the corpse of their former leader with looks of horror on their faces. His body had been left in the forest to rot by the ANBU themselves.

"What are we going to do about this?" Zaku suddenly asked as he shouted at Kabuto. "We can't possibly let this go unpunished!"

"We won't, don't worry." Kabuto sighed while adjusting his glasses. "I've got just the team in mind to take revenge for this."

"Who?" Dosu lifted his masked face up and attempted to make eye contact with their new leader.

"Orochimaru didn't enter into the tournament without a team. Those twins that share a body should be here soon." Dosu's eyes lit up in realization. "Of course, Tayuya-chan's team passed and got into this round under the guise of Konohagakure Shinobi as well. The five of them will be perfect."

Just as Kabuto finished speaking, four forms broke free from the trees and landed in front of Kabuto with one knee on the ground.

"Who was it?" Asked the biggest member, Jirobo, in a voice that did nothing to hide his anger.

"Who's the shithead that killed Orochimaru-sama?" The redheaded, Tayuya, screamed.

"We'll kill him nice and slow." The six-armed Kidomaru seethed out.

"They'll wish they were never born." Sakon and Ukon's voices rang out together, one from the head on front and the other the head in back.

Kabuto chuckled evilly as he pulled out his Shinobi cards and began playing with them. After awhile he threw one card down.

Might Guy's figure and stats were featured on it. "This is the man that killed him."

"We'll set out right awa-"

"Not yet." Kabuto interrupted Sakon as he threw down three more cards.

"Rock Lee, Hyuuga Hinata, and Uzumaki Naruto." He said the names of the three people who appeared on the cards next. Dosu's eyes widened as he realized the implications.

"So what? You saying these shit-for-brained Genin had a hand in Orochimaru-sama's death?" Tayuya and the rest of the Sound Four didn't yet get the connection.

"Yes and then some." Kabuto ran his hand through his hair as he looked them all in the eyes. "They were the one's that summoned their sensei who proceeded to kill Orichimaru-sama. They're still here in the forest as we talk. I shouldn't have to spell it out any further, should I?"

"No, we've got it." A sadistic grin appeared across all of their faces as they plotted their revenge.

* * *

_Day Three_

* * *

Sasuke, Hinata, and Lee jumped from branch to branch at top speed as they hurriedly attempted to locate an enemy of any kind.

"You see anyone yet, Hinata?" Sasuke yelled to the Hyuuga Heiress impatiently. He wanted to hurry and find a scroll fast.

Hinata shook her head. "Not yet..." She too was in a rush. Naruto and Neji barely tolerated each other for just a couple moments. Now the two of them were alone with Tenten inside of a hollowed tree. Things weren't likely to end well if they took too long.

"Keep going, you can find them, Hinata!" Lee was the only one oblivious to worry.

Hinata stopped short suddenly and it didn't even take Sasuke or Lee a second later to mimic her. "You got something?" Sasuke asked excitedly.

"Yes, three of them, but it isn't right." Hinata was incredibly tense.

"What do you mean?" Lee perked one of his Bushy Brow's in curiosity. "Three is a team, right?"

"They just appeared in my range as if they were summoned...and they aren't human!" Hinata shouted in realization as three giant humanoid monsters descended from above towards the three young Genin. They all jumped out of the way and just barely dodged the attacks by the three giant summons.

"What the hell are those?" Sasuke's Sharingan was already activated. One of them had no arms and was covered in bandages, another was bald and ripped with muscles and the final with long flowing hair, held a giant club.

"Enemies." Lee answered plainly as he settled into his stance.

"There's more! An arrow is coming straight at us and another enemy entered my vision from below!" Hinata yelled hurriedly. Lee turned just in time to see the arrow coming at him at an astounding speed. He dove off the branch he was on and began plummeting towards the forest floor.

"I shall get the enemy below!" He shouted back up towards them.

"My Sharingan has got a lock on the guy who fired that arrow. He's mine." Sasuke grinned wickedly as he jumped off in the direction that the arrow had come from.

"W-wait!" Hinata shouted in exasperation. They had left her with the most troublesome seeming opponent. Unfortunately, she didn't have any time for self-pity as the three giant Doki attacked her.

Meanwhile, Lee landed nimbly on the forest floor and turned to where he believed the opponent to be coming from, settling into his stance as he did. He waited patiently as the ground began to shake violently as his opponent charged out of the brush. Lee's eyes widened in surprise as he caught sight of the size of the opponent he was fighting.

"You're dead, trash!" Jirobo roared in fury at Guy's mini-look-a-like. He would take revenge for his lord right here and now. He thought this evilly as he raised his fist into the air and swung with all his strength.

"First Gate: Open!" Lee held his hand up and to Jirobo's surprise caught his fist and stopped his momentum clear in it's tracks.

"What?" Lee grit his teeth as his feet slowly slid backwards into the grass. His face was slowly turning redder as the effect of the gate fully kicked in.

"Think you're clever, huh?" Black energy began pouring off Jirobo as his whole body began covered in dark marks. "Well take this!" He pushed Lee's hand out of the way and swung with his other hand.

"Darn!" Lee shouted as he brought his forearm in front of himself. It did little to shield him however, as Jirobo's fist smashed into him and launched him backwards and straight to the closest tree. He hit it so hard he sent hunks of bark flying in every direction.

"I ain't done yet!" Despite his massive size, Jirobo closed the distance quickly and swung a powerful kick that caught Lee in the gut and once again sent him flying until he finally collided with the snowy ground. Lee slowly slid to a stop right in front of another big tree and began writing on the ground. As he did, he heard Jirobo's thundering steps as he charged towards him again.

"No choice then..." Lee struggled to his knees and turned in the direction of Jirobo. "Second Gate: Open!" He kicked off from the ground and met Jirobo's charge in mid-air. Jirobo wasn't able to stop in time and Lee's knee smashed right into his chest and knocked him slightly backwards. Lee landed on the ground and spun around, now swinging his leg high in the air. His foot connected with Jirobo's neck but stopped there.

"You think that hurts, punk?" Jirobo's face was completely enraged as he knocked Lee's foot aside. Lee stumbled back and leaned up against the tree in fright. "Eat this!" Jirobo swung his fist and Lee vanished from sight. Jirobo hit the tree with such force that it splintered the whole base apart. The tree began falling towards him but he paid it no mind. "Where is he?" He looked left, right and backwards but didn't see him.

"Down here!" Lee shouted just as Jirobo looked down. Lee's foot crashed into Jirobo's chin and knocked him a couple feet off the ground. "Not yet!" Lee, still upside-down, went into the air after him. His foot collided with Jirobo's chin again and again, rocketing him higher and higher into the air with each kick. Meanwhile, the tree was slowly descending towards them at the same time. "Third Gate: Open!" Lee gave one final kick that sent Jirobo right into the falling tree as he propelled himself to safety.

He landed on the ground just as the tree crashed down, crushing Jirobo with it. "Whew, too close." Lee let out a sigh of relief as he defeated his opponent. "Wait!" He suddenly shouted in horror as he realized he had forgotten something important. "What if he had the scroll? I have to get him out!" Lee began running towards the tree but stopped short as it began violently shaking.

A blast of dark chakra erupted from underneath the tree as it slowly began to lift higher and higher into the air. Only a couple seconds later and Lee could see a transformed Jirobo was the one lifting the tree. "You trash!" Jirobo took a step forward and hurled the tree with all his might.

"Not good." Lee jumped high and over the tree as it sailed underneath him. Just as he began to descend, Jirobo apeared in front of him.

"I'll rip you apart!" Jirobo swung his fist and Lee performed a midair front flip in order to dodge. As he was coming back around he brought the heel of his foot down on Jirobo's head but the big man didn't even flinch as he swung his fist again. This time it caught Lee straight in the back and Lee was sent flying once again. Lee collided into another tree but with such force he broke completely through it, sending it tumbling to the ground like the last one.

"Fourth Gate: Open!" Lee quickly opened yet another gate so he could keep up with the incredible power of his opponent. He landed nimbly on the ground despite the pain he was in.

"Just stay down!" Jirobo was completely furious now as he charged at Lee and swung again. The attack hit Lee straight on but instead of being sent flying, he only skid back a couple feet.

"I will not stay down!" Lee shouted as he took a step forward and smashed his fist into Jirobo's face, causing him to stumble back slightly.

"Trash!" Jirobo regained his footing and swung his fist at Lee again. Lee matched his punch and their fists collided into each other. They both swung their left hands this time and their fists collided again. They swung at each other again and again, their fists colliding each time. "You can't keep this up forever! That gate is going to close!"

"Not if I open another!" Lee clashed fists with Jirobo once more before resorting to the last gate he could possibly open. "Fifth Gate: Open!" He swung faster then ever before but to his shock, Jirobo stepped out of the way. Lee had no way to slow his momentum and carried forward, leaving himself completely open.

"Too bad for you!" Jirobo kneed Lee right in the stomach rocketing him straight into the air and towards the branches of the towering trees. He could feel his consciousness fading in and out as he flipped and flopped higher and higher into the air until he started passing by branches.

"...I cannot let it end like this." Lee mumbled quietly to himself as he reached the height of his ascent and began plummeting back towards the ground. He angled himself so he was completely upside down and extended his right fist straight forward. "I am going to win this fight!" He shook the blackness from the corners of his vision out. He was falling faster and faster straight towards Jirobo.

"Have it your way." Jirobo smirked as he looked straight up at him. He had no intention of matching fists with Lee with that momentum though, he would just step to the side again at the last second. Lee would kill himself with the impact when he hit the ground. Lee was getting closer and closer with every passing second. Jirobo figured there was only another five seconds until impact and he would step away at one second.

Four seconds until Lee hit the ground.

Three Seconds.

At two seconds, something unexpected happened. "Ura Renge!" Lee bellowed at the top of his lungs. The speed of his fall doubled all at once as he kicked off of thin air. Jirobo had no way to react in time as Lee smashed full-on into him, creating a giant crater with the two of them at the center of it.

After a few moments of nothing, Lee literally crawled out of the hole. "Haha...I won!" He pumped one fist into the air before dropping it. He lay face-down in the snow. Jirobo hadn't had a scroll and he definitely wasn't getting back up. "Sorry, Hinata. The rest is on you and Sasuke-san." Lee mumbled into the snow.

* * *

Sasuke jumped from branch to branch as he chased after the source of that first arrow. Just as he could tell he was getting close, a second arrow fired off. Sasuke stopped on the branch he was on. He could see the arrow was attached to a thread filled with chakra, meaning the arrow was probably being guided. Using his Sharingan he was able to easily predict it's path and dodged it at the last second. He then quickly followed the string right into the thick leaves that were concealing his opponent.

He landed on the branch where the thread ended and was surprised to see no one was there. He had been tricked! Just as he thought this, he heard the sound of multiple clicking sounds. All around him, golden kunai were being fired off all at once. "Tch..." Sasuke ducked and weaved his way around the deadly barrage as his Sharingan scanned for any sign of his attacker.

"There!" Sasuke shouted in excitement as his eyes finally locked onto him. He lost focus on the kunai for just that one second and it cost him as two kunai buried themselves into his back. Sasuke gave a cough of blood as three more struck him from the front. Another couple buried themselves into his right leg and a final one struck him in the head. His corpse collapsed to the ground.

"Got you." A transformed Kidomaru with three eyes said excitedly as he pumped his fist.

"You sure about that?" All three eyes widened as a foot smashed into the side of his head. Kidomaru was knocked off his branch and sent falling to the forest floor. A living, breathing, Sasuke jumped after him.

"How?" Kidomaru shouted in shock as he turned to see a log where the dead Sasuke had just been. "Substitution!"

"That's right!" Sasuke was falling with his opponent. He spun around and delivered a spinning kick to his opponents gut, followed by an elbow to the cheek and then a punch in his upper arm. Kidomaru howled in pain and swung blindly back at his falling opponent. Sasuke easily dodged all six arms with the use of his Sharingan and continued with his onslaught of punches and kicks. "Now take this!" Sasuke pulled a kunai out and just as he was about to plunge it into his opponent, they landed on something soft and sticky. "What the hell?"

"Hehehe...like my spiderweb?" Kidomaru asked as he easily stood up on the web. He was completely unharmed from the viscous series of punches and kicks he had just taken.

"How the hell are you okay?" Sasuke struggled as hard as he could be he was completely bound to the web.

"You mean your pretty eyes can't see my armor?" Kidomaru chuckled as he held his hand out. A thick golden armor that was similar to the kunai was being created as he showed it off. "This armor is pretty thick. It's going to take a strong piercing jutsu to crack something like this!" He walked around to Sasuke's head. "Let's see you substitute your way out of this." He snarled before giving a swift kick to Sasuke's cranium.

Instead of screaming in pain, Sasuke burst into a cloud of smoke. "What the- A Shadow Clone too?"

"Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!" A barrage of fireballs ripped apart the web Kidomaru was standing on and he was once again falling towards the forest floor. Sasuke appeared behind him, falling parallel with him.

"I told you, you can't get through my armor with just punches and kicks!" Kidomaru laughed carelessly, unafraid of Sasuke.

The last Uchiha merely smirked as the sound of chirping birds filled the area. "I know." Was all he said as he plunged Chidori into the back of his opponent, piercing his heart and killing him instantly. He pulled his arm out and flipped himself right before landing neatly on the ground. Kidomaru hit the ground hard, sending snow flying everywhere.

"Now let's see if you got a scroll..." Sasuke began rummaging through his opponents pockets. "Got it!" Sasuke exclaimed as he pulled out a white scroll. "It's heaven too. This means we only got one scroll to go." He paused as he noticed his bloodstained hand. He then looked back down at Kidomaru. "This was my first kill..." He said before giving a slight deranged smile. "I'm one step closer...brother."

* * *

Hinata jumped off of the now destroyed branch as she dodged yet another swing from the giant Doki. Dodging three opponents was a tricky task in of itself. But dodging three _giant _monsters while also trying to find the one controlling said monsters was a whole-nother ballpark.

She could only assume her opponent was masking herself with a genjutsu since she had to be in range of her Byakugan to be controlling the doki through music, but Hinata didn't have the time to disable a genjutsu. This meant she had to get off the defensive and fight the doki head on.

She landed on a nearby branch and kicked off right towards her opponents. None of them were capable of flinching in surprise so naturally, they didn't. Instead they swung at her as she came into range of their attacks. "Kaiten!" Hinata began spinning incredibly fast and deflected their strikes and them backwards. All the doki flew into different directions before each crashed into a tree.

By the time Hinata stopped spinning, she had her bow out and three arrows ready to fire simultaneously. She let all three arrows fire into the doki with a club. A moment later, and the exploding tags attached the arrows went off and the doki was completely annihilated. "That's one down." Hinata turned towards the other two doki that were already jumping towards her again. "Two to go."

Hinata's bow disappeared in a poof of smoke as she returned it to the scroll on her hip. She waited for the doki to be on her before moving. She jumped over the one that had to swing it's head to attack and placed herself right in between the two of them. The other doki swung it's fist forward and Hinata ducked beneath it. The doki punched its companion in the head, knocking it off the branch they were standing on.

"Double Jyuuken!" Hinata stepped inwards and swung both hands forward, catching the remaining doki in the gut, also knocking it off the branch. She then brought her hands up and formed a single seal. "Kai!" She shouted as she disrupted her own chakra flow, breaking any genjutsu's that might have been placed on her. Just as she did, someone became visible within her range. "I found her."

Hinata took off after the transformed Tayuya, who was on a branch just several meters above where Hinata had been. "Damn, what the hell?" Tayuya shouted in irritation as she realized she'd been found. Hinata said nothing as she drew two kunai and swung at her opponent. Tayuya deflected both strikes with her flute. She then swung her float forward and clocked Hinata in the side of the temple with it.

Hinata stumbled forward and Tayuya tackled her onto the branch so Hinata's head was hanging off the ledge. "Not so cocky now, are ya shithead?" Tayuya sneered as she straddled Hinata and pulled out a kunai. She held it up to the young Hyuuga's throat. "I'm going to enjoy butchering your pretty little face. I'm going to be sure to take my time."

"This battle isn't decided yet." Hinata groaned from underneath her opponent. She lifted her legs and flipped Tayuya who immediately tumbled off the branch, taking Hinata along with her. As the two of them plummeted towards the earth, Tayuya made to stab Hinata in the throat. Hinata grabbed the kunai just centimeters away from its target.

Tayuya smirked down at Hinata. At the way they were falling, Hinata was going to strike the ground first. "You're going to die one way or the other, princess. Just let me stab you in the throat and end it now or you can live a couple more seconds in fear! You can't attack me with your Jyuuken if you have to hold my hand in order to survive!"

"Who ever said I needed my hands to use Jyuuken?" Hinata asked as she smiled. A moment later Tayuya gave a cough of blood as Hinata sent a body-wide Jyuuken strike into her body. With her opponents guard down, Hinata took this chance to get the kunai away from her throat and swap their positions. Just a couple seconds later and they hit the ground, the kunai Tayuya had been holding buried itself into her own gut.

Hinata had used Tayuya to absorb most of the shock but she still could do nothing more than roll painfully off of her. Thankfully, they had landed in a thick patch of snow but it wasn't helping Tayuya much at this point.

"Hinata!" Lee was leaning against a nearby tree.

"Lee-senpai, are you alright?" Hinata attempted to get up but it still hurt too much for her.

Lee smiled painfully and gave her a thumbs up. "I am fine, but I may have over-done it. I opened the fifth gate."

"The fifth! Lee-senpai, you aren't like Guy-sensei! It'll take you at least a week to recover from going that far!" Hinata scolded as she attempted to sit herself upright.

"He wasn't an opponent I could go easy against." Lee stumbled his way up to Hinata and nearly collapsed in front of her.

Hinata let out a tired sigh. "Did he at least have a scroll?"

Lee shook his head. "I got the heaven scroll." A third voice said as Sasuke landed right next to them.

Lee and Hinata's faces both brightened as they seen the thing they'd come out for.

"Heh...you idiots still worried about scrolls." Tayuya spoke raspingly. Blood was leaking out of the corner of her mouth and where she had stabbed herself, turning the snow completely red.

"We beat the three of you. There's nothing more for us to be afraid of." Sasuke sneered down at her.

Tayuya chuckled but instantly began coughing up more blood. When she was done she still smiled up at the three of them. "You shitheads might not know, but the three of us were once Orochimaru-sama's elite guards." The three of them widened their eyes in surprise. "...and there was four of us, not three. I'd be more worried about your teammates than a scroll right about now if I were you."

"Damn it!" Sasuke yelled as he turned and immediately began sprinting off towards the place they had left their teammates.

"We have to hurry!" Hinata stumbled to her feet and hoisted Lee up so he was draped over her shoulder.

"Just leave me, you have to help them!" Lee urged Hinata on but she shook her head.

"You won't be able to fend off an attacker in your condition, we're going together!" Hinata shouted as the two of them vanished into the thicket.

Tayuya gave another small chuckle. "Run as fast as you want...by the time you get there..."

"...they'll already be dead."


	19. The Forest of Death Part 5

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_The Forest of Death (Part 5)_

* * *

"Are you always this much of an idiot?" Neji asked coldly.

"You wanna ask that again?" Naruto grabbed the Hyuuga genius by the scruff of the heavy jacket he was wearing. "It may hurt like a bitch to pull out my chakra right now, but I think it might be worth it to put you in your place."

"Come on guys, you know we are supposed to be in hiding, right?" Tenten gently chided both of the Genin she was stuck with. The three of them were inside the hollow base of one of the many massive trees that covered the entire Forest of Death.

"This asshole started it!" Naruto screamed in indignation as he turned towards Tenten.

"…And I'm about to finish this." Neji stiffly rose to his feet, easily towering over Naruto who still held onto his jacket. "Let's take this outside and I'll show you where you truly belong."

"Heh, fine by me." The two badly beaten Genin ambled their way towards the entrance to the tree, and both almost stumbled on their way out.

"You got to be kidding me." Tenten rubbed her forehead in irritation. She really hoped the others got back soon.

Naruto and Neji both seemly just appeared out of the tree, as the entrance had been covered by a basic Genjutsu. The flaw with the Genjutsu was, it made it impossible to peer outside without the aid of enhanced vision, and when they stumbled out they both immediately saw a single boy with grayish hair and green lips smiling at them. "How nice of you to come out a greet me, I've been looking for you."

Naruto and Neji stared at him for a moment before they both turned back to each other. Naruto pulled him in close. "I thought you were monitoring the area with your Byakugan!" He whispered not so quietly.

"I made a point of shutting it off when arguing with you. I intended to kick your ass without it." Neji whispered back in just as loud a voice.

"Well that's just great, we're screwed now. Neither one of us are in any shape to be fighting on our own." Naruto had been intent on fighting Neji, but that was because he was just as injured as he was.

"Then we'll just have to kick his ass together. Even a loser like you should be able to win when paired up with a genius like me." Neji pulled back and turned to look at Sakon. He was slowly walking towards them, the same creepy smile on his face.

Naruto smirked. "I don't like the way you worded that but for now let's just kick his ass." Naruto also pulled back.

"You two done quibbling and ready to fight?" Sakon asked as he stopped walking just ten paces away from them.

"Now?" Naruto asked as he also turned towards him.

"Now!" Neji verified. With a loud battle shout from both Genin they charged straight at Sakon, hoping to catch him off guard.

"What the hell?" Their tactic worked as Sakon took a step back in surprise. It didn't take a doctor to see that these two were in no condition to fight at all. They both looked like the wind could knock them over. So when they charged at him he was definitely a more than a little surprised.

"Take this!" Naruto shouted as he swung his fist.

"Jyuuken!" Neji also attacked with his outstretched palm.

Neither one anticipated what happened next. Two extra arms extended from Sakon's shoulders and the caught their own arms before they got anywhere near him. "What's going on?" Naruto shouted in surprise.

"Sakon, you idiot." A deeper voice said from the back of Sakon's head. It was then that Naruto and Neji took notice of the second head on his back. "Are you really going to allow yourself to be blind-sided by a couple of idiots?"

Sakon gave a small chuckle. "Heh, sorry brother. I wasn't taking these kids seriously. I won't make the same mistake."

"Are you two really fighting?" Tenten shrieked as she stepped out from the inside of the tree. She had heard their battle shouts and immediately made her way out. As her eyes met with everyone else's, time itself seemed to stop. Ten whole seconds went by as she stared at him and they stared back at her.

"Tenten, get out of here!" Neji was the first to regain his composure. After his shout, everything else sprung into motion.

Tenten reached into her pouch and pulled out a couple shuriken.

Naruto took another step towards Sakon and raised his other fist.

Two additional legs came out of Sakon's torso aimed at the blonde while the arm holding Neji lifted him off the ground.

Tenten let the shuriken fly. The feet crashed into Naruto and Neji was thrown straight up into the air.

"Sakon, get out of the way!" Ukon shouted, but Sakon's body was already moving. He ran forward and ducked under all of the shuriken. He then continued to charge straight at Tenten.

"Damn!" Tenten reached into her back pouch and channeled chakra into a scroll resting on top. A bo-staff appeared in her hands. Just as Sakon got within range she began to swing it but stopped and flinched. The movement had jolted her broken ribs.

"Too bad!" Sakon yelled as he swung his fist forward. Two more fists extended from it as well and Tenten took all three of them to the cheek.

"Tenten!" Naruto yelled as he stumbled up to his feet. A moment later and Neji hit the ground on the shoulder that his massive cut hard started from. He let out a loud scream in pain as he instantly grabbed onto it with his other arm and began to roll around slightly.

"Damn, what a mess." Naruto took off running, weaving his favorite seal as he did.

"Sakon! The kid behind us storing up a lot of chakra!" Sakon spun towards Naruto and slid into a stance.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted only for nothing to happen. He skid to a stop. "You got to be kidding me!"

Sakon broke into laughter. "That's hilarious. You're suffering from chakra burns you dumbass! Your chakra points have sealed themselves so you won't damage them permanently! You can't possibly fight me like that!"

Naruto grit his teeth together as he glared Sakon down. "Just watch me!" Naruto broke into a dead sprint right at Sakon.

"Well…what do you say, brother?" Sakon asked in delight as Naruto got closer and closer.

"Let's do it. This brat killed the Jinchuriki. I'll make him suffer good before I murder him." Ukon's head sunk into Sakon's body as he talked.

"You're always such a sadist, brother." Sakon chuckled as he took a step towards the charging blond. "Bring it on, kid."

"You asked for it!" Naruto got only a step away before he vanished completely.

"He's fast." Sakon didn't get a chance to wonder where he had gone before Naruto's fist smashed into his cheek. As Naruto's fist drilled him, he felt Ukon's presence leave his body and couldn't help but smirk. Naruto completed his punch and Sakon hit the ground so hard he bounced before landing again a couple feet away.

"How do you like that?" Naruto asked while smirking.

"I could ask you the same thing." Ukon's voice whispered into Naruto's ear. Naruto spun around, ready to take an attack but to his surprise no one was there. "Looking for me?" Naruto again wheeled around but he couldn't see his opponent at all.

"Naruto! On your shoulder!" Tenten yelled as she slowly struggled back up to her feet.

"My shoulder?" Naruto turned just his head and saw Ukon's head sticking out of his shoulder. "Gah! What the hell?" Naruto gave an awkward swing at the face but it quickly shrunk into his body.

"Oh no, that won't do." The head rose out of Naruto's stomach this time and Naruto stared straight down at it.

"I know, this is a genjutsu!" Naruto brought his hands up in a sign and began to focus his chakra. Without warning, Ukon's hands shout out from Naruto's shoulder and stopped Naruto from forming the seal.

"I'm afraid this ain't genjutsu. I'm actually inside of you. It's part of my Kekkei Genkai." Sakon smiled evilly as his head vanished into Naruto's stomach. Ukon's voice then came from right next to Naruto's ear now. "Now that I share your body with you, I can end your life in any way I please." He then began to chuckle loudly.

Naruto began to chuckle himself which immediately caused Ukon's to cease. "Share this body? You just made a big mistake pal. You see, there happens to be one other thing that I have inside my body." Naruto grinned wickedly as he turned his head to face his opponent.

"What?" Ukon didn't have to wait long for his answer. He closed his eyes for just a second and it seemed like his whole world changed. "W-where am I?" He spun around to take in the contents of the room. It was dank, dark and there were pipes everywhere. Naruto was also in the room and they both appeared to be standing on water. To his left was a giant cage with the word 'seal' written on it. "I asked where am I dammit!" Ukon turned and charged at the blond.

"Naruto...what is this that you brought me?" Ukon froze when he heard the huge voice. "Perhaps an offering? It's been forever since I've had a meal." Ukon turned and slowly looked at the giant cage. A giant fox was glaring out at him, a hungry look in its eye.

"K-Kyuubi no Yoko..." Ukon actually took a nervous step back. "How did this happen? Why are you here?"

The fox glared down at the man before it turned his attention back to the blond. "Naruto..." The fox whispered.

"Yeah, yeah. Go ahead and eat him." Naruto set his hands on the water and it suddenly rose up around him in a violent wave that shot towards Ukon.

"No! Stop! What are you doing? You can't even use Ninjutsu!" Ukon was still too shocked to react and was swept away by the giant wave.

"That wasn't Ninjutsu. We are inside my mind so naturally I can control the water in here without chakra." Naruto said while smiling at his opponent.

The water carried Ukon past the bars and into the giant cage. "Please no!" Ukon finally got moving but it was too late.

"You're mine!" The giant fox roared as its head descended on the Oto Shinobi. The boy gave one final yell before the fox swallowed him whole.

"There. Now don't ever say I don't feed you." Naruto grumbled as he turned away.

"I'm afraid leaving won't be an option for you...Naruto."

"What'd you say?" Naruto immediately spun back towards the Kyuubi. He didn't like what he saw one bit. The strange purple chakra that his opponent had been emitting now swirled around the giant demon. "Crap..." Naruto muttered as he realized he just messed up.

On the outside only a couple seconds had passed that Ukon had disappeared into Naruto's body and Sakon was making his way over to Tenten.

"Neji! Tenten!" Sakon swung around to see Sasuke break free from the foliage as he ran into the clearing they were all fighting in. He skid to a stop as the scene came into view.

"Sasuke!" Tenten yelled. "You have to help Naruto, one of those things went inside!"

"Right!" Sasuke took a step towards the blond but Sakon got in his path.

"Not a chance, asshole." Sakon settled into a taijutsu stance and Sasuke did the same.

Before either of them could move, red and purple chakra exploded from Naruto's body in a tornado that caused everyone present to stumble back in surprise.

"What the hell is going on?" Sakon held his arms in front of his face defensively as he turned around to face the malevolent storm of chakra. "Brother! Brother, where are you?" His brother gave no response. "You bastard! What did you do to him!" Sakon roared at Naruto as the chakra around him began to settle.

A dark chuckle came from Naruto's mouth but it didn't sound like the blond at all. "Brother? That look-alike of yours? I ate him." When Naruto raised his eyes to meet Sakon's the older boy instinctively took a step back. Naruto's eyes were a deep red and his pupils were slit.

"You...you're not the same brat we were just facing. Who are you?" Sakon's fear was quickly replaced by anger as he took a step forward.

"Who am I?" Sakon's eyes widened as he realized the voice came from behind. Before he could turn around he was blown off of his feet by a powerful punch to the face. He hit the ground so hard that his body skipped and came down again. This happened several times until he rolled to a stop. "I am the Kyuubi no Yoko! Strongest Bijuu in existence!" Naruto roared.

"Naruto..." Sasuke stared in shock from where he lay on the ground. He still couldn't bring himself as he watched what happened.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata shouted as she ran into the clearing, Lee still draped around her shoulders.

"What happened to him?" Lee asked as he watched the dark chakra spin viscously around his best friend. "How is the chakra getting through?"

"His chakra points are being ripped apart by whatever it is that's happening." Neji was struggling against the chakra so he could stand up.

Sasuke continued to stare at Naruto for a few seconds before he took a deep breath. "Give me just a moment, I'll get him." He then took off running towards Naruto.

"Sasuke-san! Wait!" Lee shouted but Sasuke wouldn't listen.

"Kyuubi no Yoko...don't make me laugh." Sakon stumbled up to his feet. "Even if you have gotten stronger, you've gotten awfully full of yourself to be saying something like that."

"Oh, would you like some proof?" Naruto tilted his head a little as he spoke. "Maybe I should kill you with just my chakra?"

"Try it!" Sakon began running straight at the blonde who now had a huge smile on his face.

"Just remember, you asked for it!" Naruto stretched his arms out in front and two whips of red and purple chakra shot forward.

"What the..." Sakon stopped for just a split second but it was long enough for the chakra to reach him and wrap itself around his neck. "Gah..." He gave a choked cough as he tried to talk. His body was hoisted into the air as he was being strangled to death.

"Naruto! Stop it! You don't need to go that far!" Sasuke was nearly at the blond.

"Hmm..." Naruto's head turned towards Sasuke curiously. "An Uchiha...interesting." With an audible snap, the chakra around Sakon broke his neck and let his corpse fall to the ground ungracefully. "I'll enjoy killing you next."

Sasuke wasn't sure what he was doing, but he charged at Naruto with all his might, the tomoe of his Sharingan spinning wildly as he stared into the blood-red eyes of the blond.

Then, everything changed.

Sasuke blinked a couple times to adjust his eyes to the new scenery that he was seeing. A giant cage was in front of him with a strange stream of chakra leaking out of it. It was made of the same color that had enveloped Naruto. He followed the stream down to what looked like a cocoon of chakra. "What is that?" Sasuke took a couple nervous steps towards the giant ball.

"Ah...what an interesting day. I'm getting all kinds of visitors." Sasuke spun his attention towards the cage. What he saw made his knees go weak. A giant fox was glaring down at him. "I'm impressed your Sharingan is at a level that would let you enter here."

"Kyuubi no Yoko..." Sasuke whispered. He had heard Naruto call himself that but now it made sense. The Kyuubi was in control of Naruto's body. Sasuke turned his attention back to the cocoon of chakra. "That means...Naruto is in there." With new-found determination, Sasuke walked towards the orb.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" The fox roared.

"I'm freeing this idiot." Sasuke knew he should be surprised that he was talking to something that wasn't even supposed to be alive. However, the fact that it wasn't dead, and what's more, sealed inside Naruto, it made perfect sense to the last Uchiha.

"I'm afraid freeing him is impossible." The Kyuubi chuckled as Sasuke stopped right in front of the giant cocoon. "You see, my chakra will burn anyone who touches it. Naruto is the only exception to this."

"I have to try." Sasuke didn't even hesitate. He sunk both his hands into the cocoon of chakra. A quiet hissing sound reached his ears and Sasuke grit his teeth but he ignored the pain.

"You fool! Don't you dare!" Kyuubi shouted in anger now. "I have waited thirteen damn years for this moment! I won't let you ruin it!" As the Kyuubi yelled whips of red chakra fired out from behind the cage. Sasuke spun his head to the chakra and glared at it with his sharingan. As if by magic, the chakra streams withered out. "No!" The red chakra that had been mixed in with the cocoon also withered away and now only the purple chakra remained.

"I see..." Sasuke said as Naruto became partially visible. He appeared to be sleeping inside. "You were using this purple chakra as a catalyst to sneak your chakra through that seal. I bet normally it is impossible for you to force it past."

"You bastard!" Kyuubi rammed into its cage which rattled heavily from the force but Sasuke ignored it. He grabbed a hold of Naruto's arm and gave a giant heave. Naruto flowed out of the chakra like it was made of jello. When Naruto's head broke free of the chakra, his eyes shot open.

"Sasuke?" He asked in confusion as the Uchiha ripped him completely out and they both tumbled to the floor made of water. Naruto coughed as he pulled his face out from the surface. "Sasuke! How did you get in here?"

"I don't know." Sasuke said in between coughs himself. He pulled himself out of the water so he was sitting on it. "I just did." Naruto sat across from him and both boys stared at each other for a minute before they broke out laughing.

"Quiet!" Kyuubi roared as he rammed his cage again. "Remember this, Uzumaki Naruto! I'll be free one day! That Uchiha won't always be around to suppress my chakra!"

"Man, what a loud mouth." Naruto got to his feet. "What do you say, Sasuke? Let's get out of here."

Sasuke nodded as he also got to his feet. "Yeah, our teams are waiting for us." Both of them blinked and suddenly they were back in the forest as if nothing had happened.

"Naruto-kun!" Naruto was nearly bowled over as Hinata ran straight into him and engaged him in a huge hug.

"Can't I ever get a normal hug from you?" Naruto asked while laughing. He returned the hug before he felt his body start to ache all over.

"What did you do?" Lee asked as he appeared next to Sasuke.

The Uchiha shook his head. "I just…entered his mind. I don't know how." He gazed down at his hands and recoiled at the sight. They were burnt badly.

Lee followed his line of sight and frowned. "I take it whatever happens in his head happens outside as well."

"Yeah, it was a surprise to me too. I wouldn't have let Kyuubi eat that guy if I would've known he'd actually get eaten. I was just going for a scare tactic." Naruto rubbed his head in embarrassment as he butted in on their conversation.

"You let _what _eat _who_?" Naruto cringed as he slowly turned towards Tenten. Neji was also staring at him for an explanation.

The village's biggest secret was quickly becoming less and less secret.

Off in the distance, Kabuto was staring at the group through a set of binoculars. He let out a cruel smile. "That went exactly as planned. Perfect." He lowered the binoculars and formed one seal. A moment later and he burst into a cloud of smoke.

On close to the opposite end of the forest, the original received the memories of the clone he had sent out. He was surrounded by five corpses, three of them with a Kiri headband, the other two with a Ame one. Dosu and Zaku were sitting on the sixth and still barely living Shinobi.

Kabuto suddenly began chuckling, causing Dosu and Zaku to look up at him. "Did the Sound Four get them?" Zaku asked with a huge grin on his face.

Kabuto turned towards them while adjusting his glasses. The light reflected off them, making it impossible to see his eyes. "The Sound Four…are dead."

"What?" Zaku was on his feet only a second later. "How is that possible? They were Orochimaru-sama's elite guard!"

"They were fools and underestimated their opponents because they were Genin. The same fate that befell Orochimaru, really." Kabuto slowly began to walk towards them. "Besides, this is perfect. Now they have two earth scrolls and only one heaven. Odds are, they'll kill each other before this exam is over."

"Speaking of scrolls, with these guys' scrolls, we now have three heaven and two earth ourselves." Zaku proudly pulled out the scrolls he had received from the two teams.

"Let me see those." Kabuto held his hand out and Zaku obeyed immediately. The second they touched Kabuto's hands they lit on fire.

"What are you doing?" Zaku asked as he took a step back in shock. Dosu meanwhile watched in complete silence. He was beginning to see a pattern to Kabuto's behavior.

"We don't need those. Take these ones." Kabuto then handed Zaku another heaven and another earth scroll. "I need you two to head to the tower and pass this exam. If all goes well, Kimimaro will be the one to retrieve you when you present the scrolls."

"What about you?" Dosu asked, although he already had a feeling.

"I am going to kill off anyone still in possession of a scroll. The less teams passing, the better." Kabuto adjusted his glasses again, making his eyes visible now.

"There's a problem!" Zaku yelled suddenly. "Kin is dead! How can we possibly pass?"

Kabuto smirked as he gestured towards the barely living Ame Genin.

"Allow me to show you a forbidden Jutsu."

* * *

_Day Four_

* * *

"So what is our plan now?" Tenten asked as she leaned against the trunk on the inside of the tree. Morning was just coming up and the two teams had yet to decide anything.

"We have less than two days and our situation has only gotten worse." Neji responded as he looked around at everyone.

"How has it gotten worse? We have a heaven scroll now!" Naruto shouted as he glared at Neji.

"We are down to only one capable fighter on each team!" Neji shouted as he stomped the ground. "Not to mention, having that scroll is more of a curse than a blessing! If neither team finds another scroll before midnight tomorrow, then we are going to have to fight to see who goes on!"

Sasuke stared down at his bandaged hands. "What are you proposing, Neji?"

"I say we defeat them now and take the scroll." Everyone looked up at him and saw he was deadly serious.

"If that is what you want to do, we will not hold back." Lee stared at his eternal rival bitterly. What had happened that he seemed to fall even further into the darkness?

"Not a chance!" Tenten shook her head fiercely. "We owe them for everything they've done! We wouldn't be here if not for them."

"They owe us just as much." Neji shot back instantly. "Sasuke is the one that found the heaven scroll. Sasuke is the one that stopped their teammate from releasing the most powerful Bijuu in existence."

"Then that means we are even." Hinata mumbled quietly.

Sasuke disagreed. As far as he was concerned, he owed them at least one more. Silence settled over the group as they all tried to think of another alternative.

"Why don't we just head to the tower?" Naruto asked, getting everybody's attention.

"What are you saying?" Lee asked his best friend in confusion.

"It makes sense, doesn't it?" Naruto began to elaborate. "If any team wants to pass they have to go into the tower. That means any team that shows there should already have both scrolls. If we wait for them…"

"…we could ambush them and take their scrolls." Hinata finished.

"That's brilliant!" Tenten shouted suddenly. "I didn't think you had it in you, Naruto!" She reached over and patted the blond on the shoulder.

"What if no one comes?" Neji asked suddenly, immediately putting a damper on the mood. "What if everyone who is going to pass has already done so?"

"You said it yourself, we're down to only two capable fighters." Naruto locked eyes with Neji as he talked.

"What are you suggesting?" Sasuke asked as he looked back and forth between the two.

"A duel." Neji clarified. "Hinata-sama vs. Sasuke."

"No way." Several voices shouted at once.

"It's the only way." Everyone was surprised. Naruto and Neji had been fighting right up to the last minute for the whole time they had been around each other. Now they were the only two in agreement.

"We'll wait until the final hour of the last day…" Neji started.

"…if no one shows up by then…" Naruto continued.

"…we'll duel for the scroll." They said together.

Lee let out an exaggerated sigh. "It really might be the best plan of action. I say we do it and just hope someone actually shows up."

Tenten finally gave a small nod as well. "As long as we wait as long as possible."

Hinata and Sasuke locked eyes with one another. They were the only two left with the strength to fight. They would be the ones that had to duel.

"We'll do it."

* * *

At the border of the Forest of Death, teams Eight and Ten sat rather uncomfortably around a fire. All six of them were staring outside the gates, just looking at lush grass and probably warm air.

"This sucks…why can't we leave?" Ino whined loudly.

"Not too much longer and we'll be able to." Kiba rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

"We can get Shino to a hospital immediately." Sakura looked over at Shino. The bug-user was lying on the dry grass where snow had once been before they managed to melt it and dry it out. His soft breathing was the only indication that he was sleeping.

"I'm surprised he can sleep at all." Choji wasn't sure what he was chewing on, but it was delicious. Kiba and Akamaru had caught and gutted it for them.

"His bugs must have him on some heavy stuff. He needs it." Shikamaru was gazing up at the night sky. You could actually see the stars from here. "Wish I could have some…"

"How do you think Naruto and Sasuke's teams are doing?" Sakura suddenly asked. Everyone mulled over the thoughts of the two teams quietly.

"I'm sure Sasuke-kun is going to pass without a problem!" Ino shouted as she pumped her fist in the air. "Go…Sasuke-kun!"

"If that jerk passes, then Naruto and his team are gonna pass for sure!" Kiba folded his arms and shook his head. He had never really liked Naruto before, but something about him now made Kiba just want to root for the guy.

"Naruto was pretty heavily injured…for our sakes." Sakura pulled her legs closer to her body.

"Lee and Hinata are no pushovers either." Shikamaru finally turned his gaze away from the sky. "If anyone could find a way to pass it would be them."

Choji finished chewing on his food. "You should know, you spar with them in the mornings." Sakura and Kiba looked at him in surprise. They hadn't known that.

"Yeah…and it's such a drag."

* * *

_Day Five_

* * *

The time had come. Teams Guy and Kakashi had managed to make it to the tower just before dusk on the fourth day. All six of them had sat right in front of one of the double doors leading to their salvation. At least one member from each team was up at all times. Hinata and Neji kept switching turns watching with their Byakugan, waiting for someone to come into their sight.

Night had passed and the sun had risen.

No one had come.

The sun had set again and still no one.

Now they had mere minutes until the twenty-third hour of their last day.

"It's time." Neji said as he leaned against the wall to help himself up.

"Can't we wait, just another half hour?" Tenten pleaded as she also gingerly got to her feet in front of Neji.

"No, we agreed on waiting on up to the last hour. We can't afford to waste anymore time." Neji responded resolutely. Tenten could only avert her eyes as she backed down.

"Unfortunately, Neji is right." Lee too had trouble getting to his feet. "We agreed on this time, and it would be unyouthful to go back on our word."

"You ready?" Naruto asked as he turned towards Hinata. She got to her feet without any problem at all.

"I'm ready." She nodded, determination in her eyes.

"I guess this is it then." Sasuke also got to his feet without any problems. "Only one team is going to pass." One by one, he looked at each member of Team Guy. It wasn't right, it didn't feel like he should be having to fight them. He still owed them at the very least, once more. Yet it had been decided. He was going to fight, and that meant no holding back.

Slowly, both of them walked into the snow-covered clearing in front of the tower where they had agreed to have their duel. Tenten also began to walk out with them.

Hinata and Sasuke stopped once they were halfway between the tower and the trees. They then turned so they were facing one another, roughly fifteen paces part. Tenten stood right in the middle between the two of them.

Tenten cleared her throat. "The rules are as we determined earlier. Hinata will have the heaven scroll tied to her right forearm. Sasuke will have the earth scroll tied to his right forearm. To win the duel, the only thing you have to do is break the string that holds the scroll on your opponents arm. You can use any means necessary. Do you both understand?"

Hinata and Sasuke nodded silently.

"There is a little more. As it was agreed that I would referee, I hold the second earth scroll which is why Sasuke was given earth as well. In the occurrence that Sasuke wins the duel, I will hand over the one I have to Lee."

Again, Hinata and Sasuke nodded.

"Alright then, when this kunai hits the ground you may start. If either of you move a second before it hits, your scroll is automatically forfeit." Without waiting, Tenten threw the kunai high into the air, causing it to vanish into the darkness almost instantly. She also began to retreat as quickly as she could before it fell back down.

"I'm sorry it has to end this way, Sasuke-san." The veins around Hinata's eyes grew thick as her bloodline limit activated.

"Believe it or not, me too." Sasuke's black eyes blazed red and three small tomoe appeared around the pupil.

Sharingan and Byakugan.

Natural-born genius and genius of hard work.

Sasuke and Hinata.

The four spectators watched with held breath for the match to begin. The kunai hit the ground with a thunk and both Genin were on the move instantly as they charged straight at each other.

"Jyuuken!" Hinata shouted as she swung her left arm forward.

"That won't catch me!" Sasuke shouted as he jumped straight into the air, well over Hinata's attack. He began weaving a set of seals. "Fuuton: Shinkuha no Jutsu!" Sasuke inhaled deeply before exhaling a sharp gust of wind.

"Kaiten!" Hinata instantly began spinning and her Rotation deflected the sharp blades of wind easily. Sasuke began descending towards the ground and as he did he pulled out several shuriken.

Hinata's spin came to a stop and when it did she already had her bow drawn and fired an arrow straight at the falling Uchiha. Sasuke threw his shuriken and then formed a lone seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" He created a clone just beneath him that he kicked off of. They both barely dodged the arrows and landed on either side of Hinata.

Hinata dropped her bow, twirled a kunai out of her pocket and deflected the shuriken with it. Just as she deflected the last one, both Sasuke's began to charge at her. Hinata weaved a single seal as well. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" A second Hinata appeared back to back with the original.

Both Sasuke's skid to a stop. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you also know that technique." They said simultaneously.

"Of course, it is Naruto-kun's favorite technique." Both Hinata's immediately ran forward at the same time.

The Hinata and Sasuke on the right engaged in combat first as Hinata jumped in the air and delivered a spinning kick. Sasuke blocked the strike with his forearms and pushed the attack back. Hinata landed on the ground just as Sasuke threw a punch. Hinata ducked under it and swung both palms forward. Sasuke front flipped over the strike and brought his foot down on top of her head, smashing Hinata's face into the ground as he did.

A moment later and she popped out of existence. Sasuke turned to the other two fighting just in time to see Hinata dispel his clone with a strong Jyuuken strike to the chin. Hinata then turned and immediately charged at Sasuke once again.

"Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!" Sasuke shot out a burst of fireballs that scattered as they flew towards his opponent. With a yell, Hinata dove feet-first at the ground and used the slippery slow to easily slide underneath the fireballs and close the remaining distance to Sasuke. She tucked and rolled, pulling a kunai out as she did.

Sasuke whipped his own out and swung downwards as Hinata landed in a crouch in front of him. At the same time her kunai was swinging upwards. Their attacks weren't aimed at anything vital but rather the scrolls. Time seemed to slow for everyone as they watched. This was it, the deciding moment.

Hinata's kunai and Sasuke's kunai passed one another and they both made their ways directly for the scrolls. Neither had enough time to pull back so one just had to be faster. Only a foot to go and it was impossible to see who would win first. Six inches. Three. Just one inch to go and something happened that neither had predicted.

With a loud pop, someone appeared right in the middle of the two of them and grabbed onto both of their arms. Spinning around he instantly threw them towards both of their teammates.

"Hinata!" Naruto yelled as he and Lee barely managed to catch her. Tenten and Neji were bowled over as Sasuke crashed into them. All six Genin quickly scrambled to see who had interfered. Not a single one of them liked what they saw.

"Hey! We meet again." Kabuto gave the whole group a casual wave as he smile brightly at them.

"It's you!" Naruto shouted as he pointed dramatically at him. "You're the bastard that serious hurt Asuma-sensei's team! It's also your fault that everyone else attacked us! It's because of you I had to fight Gaara!"

"Now, now. Those are some incredible accusations. Can you prove all those things were my doing?" Kabuto continued to smile brightly at the assembled Genin. "I've done nothing but help you this entire exam. I assisted your Sensei in killing Orochimaru, I sent those Shinobi that had the heaven scroll after you, knowing you'd defeat them. I've also wiped all the other teams out for you." Everyone widened their eyes in shock. "Don't worry. I didn't touch the two teams sitting by the fence. They posed no threat without a scroll."

"Now then, do you trust me a little?" Kabuto asked as he took a couple steps toward the team of Genin.

"Like hell we do!" Naruto shouted as he took a step forward. Before he got any farther, an arm was barring him. "What the hell?" Naruto turned to see it had been Sasuke.

"Take it…" Sasuke mumbled as he shook his arm lightly.

"Huh?" Naruto asked as he looked to Sasuke's hand. The heaven scroll was in it.

"Sasuke!" Neji shouted suddenly.

"Take it and run, Naruto!" Sasuke pushed the scroll into Naruto's hand before he took off straight towards Kabuto. Despite the fact that he knew he was likely charging towards his death, he smiled. With this, he had fully repaid them.

"No, Sasuke! What are you doing?" Naruto took another step forward but it was too late. With a flick of his wrist, Kabuto hurled a projectile strait at Sasuke's head, knocking him over and onto his back.

The Uchiha stopped short in surprise and wasn't able to react in time as it hit him square in the middle of the forehead. "Sasuke!" Naruto shouted as he began to charge forward. "You bastard, I'll rip you apart!"

"Naruto-kun, wait!" Hinata shouted but Naruto wasn't listening. He was going to rip Kabuto apart, chakra or no chakra.

"You'll pay for killing Sasuke!"

"You idiot, I'm alive." Naruto suddenly stopped short as Sasuke sat up and looked at him.

"W-what?" Naruto stuttered. "But, the kunai, your head…I don't understand."

"I didn't throw a kunai, I told you. I'm on your side." Kabuto said as he adjusted his glasses.

"Then what did you throw?" Naruto wasn't following this anymore. Was this Kabuto guy good, or was he evil?

"He threw this." Sasuke stood up and held the heaven scroll into the air.

"So then…" Tenten said as she realized what it was.

"…Both your teams can now pass. Congratulations." Kabuto gave them a short wave as he turned around and began to trek out of the forest.

"Wait! Why did you help us?" Lee shouted after him.

Kabuto kept walking as he answered. "To keep things interesting. I hate being bored." He walked straight into the trees and vanished from their view.

All six Genin turned and looked at one another. They then looked at their scrolls. They had two heaven and two earth. They could all pass.

"Well…uhh…see you guys inside, I guess?" Tenten awkwardly smiled at Team Guy as she scratched the back of her head.

"Yeah…" Hinata and Lee mumbled as well.

"Come on then." Neji turned and limped up to the door. "…And Sasuke, we need to talk."

"Right." Sasuke straightened himself out and walked straight towards the double doors.

"Hey, Sasuke." Naruto yelled, causing the last Uchiha to turn around. He waited as Naruto awkwardly shuffled his feet before finally looking up and giving him a huge grin. "Thanks!"

Sasuke gave a soft smile of his own. "We're even." That was all he said before entering into the tower. The door swung shut behind him, leaving Team Guy out by themselves.

"We better get going to." Hinata said quietly as she made her way to a different set of doors.

"Yosh! Team Guy comes through at the last minute using the power of youth!" Lee seemed to completely forget about his injuries and torn muscles as he practically skipped to the tower.

"Hey, Hinata!" Naruto asked as he walked up next to her. He felt her hand bump and his and he immediately grabbed onto it. She was shaking pretty badly, showing how nervous she had been.

"Yes, Naruto-kun?" Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"Who do you think was going to win? You, or Sasuke?" Hinata titled her head up as she ponder Naruto's question. By the time she reached an answer they were already inside and standing at the very end of the room.

"I think it would have been a draw." She said with confidence.

"A draw?" Naruto asked as he scrunched his face up. "That's no fun! I think you had him for sure!" As he talked, Hinata and Lee unraveled the scrolls so they crossed each other. Smoke billowed out like before and a figure stepped out from it. "Yamato-sensei!" Naruto smiled brightly at one of his several teachers.

Yamato smiled down at the team in front of him as he checked his stopwatch. "Congratulations, you three!"

"You pass!"


	20. Reprieve

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_Reprieve_

* * *

Team Guy and Team Kakashi now stood lined up next to one another in a giant arena on the top floor of a tower. The Hokage, Zabuza, Haku, Yamato, Kakashi, one Shinobi with a bad cough, and one strange looking Otogakure Shinobi with white hair and two red dots above his eyes were the only other people in the room.

"Is this everyone that passed?" Naruto shouted in curiosity.

"Patience, Naruto, the last team is walking in now." The Hokage said loudly enough for him to hear.

"Only one other team?" Naruto couldn't believe so many had been knocked out as he turned to see who was walking in.

"Impossible…" Hinata whispered as her Byakugan activated instantly.

Dosu, Zaku…and Kin all strolled into the room, their heads held high. "Sorry we're late." Dosu said as they took their place in line. "We overslept a little."

Naruto leaned in next to his girlfriend. "Is she an imposter?" He asked her in little less than a whisper.

Hinata nodded. "She has to be, but it's not some common henge, I cannot tell the difference at all."

The fake Kin looked at them and gave a sly smile. "Something wrong?" She asked in a voice that sounded exactly like what Hinata remembered.

"No, nothing, sorry." Hinata turned her head away and looked back to the front. She kept her Byakugan on and noticed Sasuke was looking at her with his Sharingan as well. She turned to him and gave him a small nod. He returned it and they both deactivated their eye powers.

"Now that we are all here, we shall begin to explain the third exam to you." The Hokage said as he stood up. "The nine of you will fight in one-on-one matches which will be witnessed by people from all over the world. You will all be fighting to show the strength and promise of your country. So, on that end, the final exam will be held one month from now."

"What, we're not going to fight right now?" Naruto shouted curiously.

"No, we will need the month to make preparations. We must inform the leaders from other countries who has passed and give them time to arrive. This month should also be used by you lot. Spend this month learning about your opponents, and about yourself." The Hokage finished his explanations.

"Alright! I need you all to take a piece of paper now!" The coughing ninja said as he took a couple steps forward, holding up a box. "My name is Hayate and I am the proctor for your third exam. I will be judging your matches a month from now." The Shinobi started with the Otogakure team. Haku stood right behind him and wrote the names of the participants down as they drew a number. Next he moved onto Team Guy.

Lee was the first one to draw a number. Naruto drew one next, and Hinata was the last.

"Aww…man, this sucks! I drew number nine! That's the last one!" Naruto said in irritation. "What about you guys?"

"I drew number four." Hinata said as she held up her number.

"I drew five." Lee held his up as well.

"What, does that mean you two have to fight each other?" Naruto asked in panic.

"Actually, it means we don't have a chance of meeting until the last round. She'll fight three and I'll fight six." Lee explained. "In fact, as nine, you and I will fight before either of us reach Hinata."

"Man! This really sucks!" Naruto pouted.

"Not as bad for seven and eight. One of them has to fight an extra round." Lee explained.

"Not if one of them is dead." Hinata said purposely as she sent a quick look over to the fake Kin.

"Alright! I will now announce the matches!" Hayate said right before he went into another coughing fit.

"Maybe I should do that…" Haku said as he spun the board around for everyone to see.

"Round one: Hyuuga Neji vs. Abumi Zaku!" Neji nodded and Zaku smirked slightly.

"Round two: Tenten vs. Hyuuga Hinata!" Both looked quickly at each other with wide eyes.

"Round three: Rock Lee vs. Kinuta Dosu!" Lee pumped his fist in the air and Dosu eyed his opponent up and down.

"Round four: Tsuchi Kin vs. Uchiha Sasuke!" Sasuke smirked slightly and Kin made no outward reaction.

"The winner of that round will receive a quick break but must then fight against Uzumaki Naruto before you may move onto the next bracket." Haku finished.

"Are there any questions?" He then asked. No one said anything to his relief. "Then you are all dismissed. We will contact you on the whereabouts of the final exam at a later date." The Otogakure team immediately began to shuffle out. Hinata started to walk after them but Haku grabbed a hold of her.

"I am also aware of what happened to that Oto girl. Hokage-sama has decided to let it play out, we are interested in seeing what this Kabuto has planned. Your sensei will explain more." He said in a very low voice. Hinata nodded her head.

"Where _is_ Guy-sensei?" Lee asked as he leaned in close to them. "I thought for sure he would be here to see us pass."

"Your sensei has been hospitalized for excessive use of the gates." The Hokage himself answered as he stood in front of the team. "He is just fine." He added as he noticed the worried looks. "He just needs his rest. In fact, it looks like you three could use a trip to the hospital. We'll have you taken care of immediately so you can begin your training." The Hokage beckoned a couple of medics over.

"Right this way." They said as they extended their arms. All three Genin nodded and began to follow them. Kakashi's team was being led away by a separate group.

"Ah, Naruto." The blond turned around when the Hokage called for him. "I need to speak with you for a minute." Naruto looked at his teammates and saw they were both looking at him in concern.

He shrugged. "You guys go ahead, I'll catch up."

"Are you sure?" Hinata asked as she touched his hand with hers.

"Yeah, it'll just be a couple seconds. I bet the old man just wants to tell me how great I did." Naruto smiled reassuringly at them before he turned around and walked up to the Hokage. Zabuza and Haku were also standing there with him.

"So what's up, old man?" Naruto asked as he crossed his arms behind his head.

"Might Guy would make you run laps for such disrespect." Zabuza let the threat hang in the air as Naruto instantly straightened out.

The Hokage nodded at the three of them. "As all three of you probably know, Suna was planning to invade with the aid of Otogakure. However, the moment they discovered Naruto killed their Jinchuriki, they have made it clear that no such attack is being planned anymore. With Orochimaru dead, I don't expect Otogoakure will make a move either. However, the fact that their Genin team passed leaves some doubt in my mind."

"Do you believe them? How can you be sure they won't attack?" Zabuza asked suspiciously. "In Kirigakure, just knowing they planned to attack is warrant enough to make the first strike."

"Whether I believe them or not, I have no intention of being the first one to move. If they want a battle, let them bring it to us. Konoha Shinobi are stronger when we have something to protect." The Hokage looked them all in the eye seriously.

"I don't understand, why are you telling the three of us all this?" Haku asked, his confusion evident. "Naruto-san and I are just Genin."

"I am telling you this because Sunagakure has offered us a Kunoichi and insist that we accept. She is the daughter of the Kazekage and is currently in your apartment." Naruto, Haku, and Zabuza all shared a look. A girl in their apartment? This couldn't be good.

"What do you plan to do with her?" Zabuza asked, hoping to find a way to get rid of her.

"Well, I was hoping that if you would accept, I could place her as a Genin on your team." Zabuza looked startled by the sudden offer.

"Are you asking me to become a Jonin-sensei?" He asked for clarification.

"I assumed it was what you wanted. After all, you have taken Haku-kun's training seriously. It wouldn't hurt to add two more would it?" The Hokage couldn't help but smile as he noticed Haku's face begin to brighten.

"If you are asking, I cannot refuse, Hokage-sama." Zabuza inclined his head lightly. He hated kids but this might be a good way for him to start getting missions out of the village.

"So I'm really going to be on my own team?" Haku asked in an uncharacteristic display of excitement.

"You mean _I'll _have my own team." Zabuza pointed to himself.

"None of this explains why she is staying with us. Put her with someone else." Naruto said as he looked back to the old man.

"I am currently setting some things up, however, Sunagakure was insistent that until I do, she stay with the one they regard as the hero of their village." The Hokage looked down at Naruto sadly.

"Hero? Who?" After asking that question, Naruto noticed all three of them were looking down at him with pity. "Me…because I…"

"That's enough, Naruto-san." Haku patted his friend on the shoulder.

The Hokage tilted his hat slightly. "I am sorry, Naruto."

Naruto felt tears slide down his face.

"Damn them all…"

* * *

Might Guy loved many things. After all, it was a most youthful practice to love as much as you could. It wasn't a good feeling when you were filled with hate. Yet, at that moment, none of that mattered. At this precise moment, Guy knew only one thing.

He _hated _Hospitals.

"Let me go right this minute! I demand it!" Guy bellowed as he attempted to leap from his bed the umpteenth time that day.

"No, you can't!" The doctor shouted back. He stood far back and watched as a miniature army of nurses wrestled the stubborn, youthful man back to his bed.

"My students! I have to know if they passed! I don't have time to be lying in bed!" Guy managed to break free from the nurses and get off his bed but he didn't get far. He stumbled and fell to the ground almost immediately.

The doctor sighed and pushed up his glasses. "I am telling you this for your own good, Guy-san. Look at you. You're covered from head to toe in bandages. You don't heal overnight after opening seven gates of the Hachimon. Normal men go into a coma from the burden that puts on your body."

"Isn't there anything you can do? I need to see them!" Guy picked himself back up but the nurses were on him, already dragging him back to his bed.

"I'm not Tsunade-sama. The most you can do is wait. If they are anything like you, I'm sure they passed." The doctor wanted to sigh in relief as Guy let the nurses tuck him back into bed without protest.

Unfortunately for him, Guy's students happen to walk in only a moment later. They had all been healed and already looked fighting fit.

"My students!" The nurses sprung into action as Guy again attempted to leave his bed. "Get off me! Nothing will restrain me from giving my youthful students a hug! Nothing damn it!" Guy broke through the nurses with ease and ran at his students.

"Guy-sensei!" Lee cried happily as he spread his arms wide. Naruto and Hinata reluctantly gathered in and let their sensei pick all three of them at once and spin them around in a bone-crushing hug.

"My students! I feel twenty years younger just seeing your faces mostly unharmed after dealing with such an ordeal!" Guy finally set the three of them down and inspected them each in turn. "Did you all pass?"

They all looked at one another before turning back to him and giving him a big smile. "Of course we passed!" They all said, although Hinata was of course drowned out by her two loud teammates.

"Excellent! I knew you would!" Guy went to hug his students again but he collapsed backwards.

"Guy-sensei!" They all shouted as they scurried over him. The doctor merely let out a tired sigh.

"Can I ask you three to put him in his bed? If you do, I'll let you visit him a little while longer, but please try to keep it down." All three of them nodded as they picked their sensei up and laid him down in his bed. As they did, the doctor and all the nurses quietly left to go check up on other patients.

"Thank you." Guy gave his students a nod.

"We should be thanking you. You really saved us in the Forest, Guy-sensei." Naruto waved it off while Lee and Hinata nodded in agreement. "Well, I got to get going myself. I have some stuff to take care of at home. I just felt I'd come let you know I'm alright."

"I should also get going. I wish to pay the other rooms a visit before I return home." Hinata bowed to Guy as she talked.

Guy nodded in understanding at both of them. "Thank you for coming to see me. Report tomorrow at our normal time. We are going to begin your final training."

"Right!" They all said together.

Lee turned to them just before they left. "I am going to stay with Guy-sensei awhile longer. I look forward to our meeting tomorrow."

"See you then, Bushy-Brow!" Naruto gave a last wave as he and Hinata stepped into the hallway. Haku and Zabuza stood waiting for him. "Sorry about the wait. We can head out now."

"About time." Zabuza grumbled as he turned and began to walk down the hall. Haku smiled apologetically at Hinata before taking off after him.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Hinata." Naruto nodded towards his girlfriend.

"I'll see you then, Naruto-kun. I love you." She leaned in and kissed him quickly on the lips.

"I-I love you too." Naruto stuttered out, his face turning red.

"Hurry up, brat!"

"I…gotta go!" Naruto said as he took off after his roommates, leaving a smiling Hinata. She also had a small blush on her face as well. She watched him go until he disappeared around the corner before she went to where she knew Team Ten's room was.

She gave a quick knock. "Excuse me, Shikamaru-san!" She called.

The door immediately swung open, to reveal Choji. "Ah, Hinata! How nice of you to come visit. Don't be shy, come on inside." The big boy quickly led Hinata inside of the room. Hinata quickly followed him into the room.

"Hinata!" Ino waved exaggeratedly with the one arm that wasn't completely bandaged.

"Ino-san, you're doing fine." Hinata was surprised by how cheerful that blonde girl was.

"Of course! Being in this bed is _so _much better than being caught inside that frigid hellhole they call a training ground! I can actually eat the food here!" Ino continued to swing her arm around as she talked.

"Kiba caught some really good food!" Choji yelled as he continued to chow through a bag of chips.

"You guys are forgetting the most important thing." Shikamaru sighed at his team. "Did your team pass?"

"Oh yeah, and what about Sasuke-kun?" Of course it was Ino who said that.

Hinata smiled and tilted her head. "Both teams passed!"

"I knew he would pass!" Ino screamed as she pumped her fist.

"Congratulations." Shikamaru and Choji said together, ignoring their female teammate.

"Thank you." Hinata said as she bowed to them. "I am going to check up on Shino-san's team now. Have a good day, you three." Hinata slowly backed out of the room.

"Later." They all said together. Hinata closed the door and pulled out a small sheet of paper. The room number for the other rookies was written on it. Hinata made her way to the room and knocked on the door. Barking was heard from the other side and the door was swung open to reveal Sakura.

"Hinata, did you pass?" Sakura shouted right away. Hinata gave a big nod and Sakura let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness." She led her over to where Shino lay quietly, his arm still missing, however, now properly bandaged.

"I am glad to see your arm did not get infected while it was out in the forest." Hinata said as she took a seat.

"There was never a cause for concern. My Kikaichu were injecting antibacterial into my body the whole time we were out there." Shino replied in monotone.

"I just can't believe you can be so calm." Hinata knew she would be beside herself if she had lost her arm.

"Bah, he's always like this! Nothing fazes the guy!" Kiba said from his chair. Sakura sat down in the seat next to him.

"I'm glad." She said. "I would rather he was calm then freaking out and blaming us."

"As I told you before, the only one at fault for my arm was myself." Shino said as he nudged up his glasses. "I would not listen when you said not to bargain with him."

"I'm just glad Naruto came around when he did." Sakura said quietly. Hinata tensed up when she mentioned his name. Hinata wasn't sure what had happened in the forest between her and Naruto, but Sakura was definitely acting a lot different about Naruto now than before.

"Quit talking about Naruto like that, I swear you've fallen for him." Kiba grumbled with a disgusted look on his face.

"N-no!" Sakura said almost a little too quickly, a blush spreading on her face. "I just don't think anyone else could've been able to beat him." Sakura said even more quietly.

"The worst part was, he wasn't even trying to kill him! He was trying to reason with him the whole time! That's downright stupid if you ask me!" Kiba leaned back in his chair and slipped it onto two legs.

Sakura brought his chair farther back without warning and Kiba was sent tumbling to the ground. "Don't insult him like that for caring about people! You could do with being a little more sensitive yourself, Kiba!" Sakura was red with anger.

"Are you sure you don't like him?" Kiba asked again as he rubbed the back of his head. Akamaru whined as he walked up next to his master.

"Y-you can't!" Hinata suddenly shouted, a heavy blush on her face.

"Can't what?" Sakura asked in confusion. Shino and Kiba both looked confused as well.

Hinata pressed her fingers together and took a couple of deep breaths. "You can't…you can't like Naruto-kun because…he's my boyfriend!"

Silence met her statement as Kiba and Sakura stared at her with mouths agape. Shino's surprise was harder to see but his eyebrows were visible well above his glasses now.

"W-what?" Kiba asked as he got to his feet "What do you all see in that idiot?"

"I don't like him!" Sakura insisted at her teammate before whirling back on Hinata. The Hyuuga girl was blushing heavily from her outburst. "Hinata…Naruto saved our lives. My opinion of him has definitely changed but I'm not in love with him…" Sakura pleaded as she stared right into Hinata's eyes.

"…I believe you." Hinata mumbled, averting her gaze. "I apologize for my outburst…I just…got scared you were going to try to take him from me. He used to like you so much."

"If I may," Shino adjusted his glasses as he spoke up. "I am not close to Naruto-san, but judging by his personality, he is not one who would lightly do something that would hurt his friends. I am positive you have nothing to worry about."

Hinata nodded. "I know. Naruto-kun is kind. I just got myself worked up for nothing."

Sakura waved her hands defensively. "Hey, hey. It's nothing to worry about. You've heard Ino and I go at it over Sasuke-kun. When emotions get involved, things get all jumbled up."

Hinata nodded again and an awkward silence settled inside the room.

Kiba cleared his throat in an attempt to break it.

"So…who confessed to who first?"

* * *

"Man, I can't wait to spend a night in my own bed!" Naruto, Zabuza, and Haku stomped their way up the stairs that led to their apartment.

"I'm more interested in this girl who is currently staying in our apartment." Haku followed in the far back of the group.

"Let's get rid of her as fast as possible." Zabuza said with resolve as he trailed in the middle of the group.

"Yeah, yeah. Shouldn't be hard for you." Naruto mumbled as he unlocked his door. He swung the door open. It was completely dark on the inside. "Must not be home." Naruto yawned as he stepped in and fumbled for the switch.

Footsteps reached his ears just as he hit the switch. The lights came on and to Naruto's surprise a blonde, tall girl was running at him with a kunai. "Die!" She shouted as she swung it at him.

"What the hell?" Naruto shouted as he dove into the inside. "Hey, wait!" He turned around and saw her swinging the blade low. "You got it all wrong!" Naruto jumped into the air and landed on his couch. The blonde girl jumped on the couch after him and continued to swing the small blade. "I'm not an intruder!" Naruto stumbled off the couch and onto the ground. The girl dove after him. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" He shouted while rolling away. The kunai sunk dangerously low into the floor board. She picked it up and snarled at him. "This is my apartment!"

"Shut up! I already know all that!" The girl shouted as she charged back at him.

"Then why are you attacking me?" Naruto continually dodged more swings as he jumped backwards and began circling back around the couch.

"For killing Gaara! For killing my brother I'm going to kill you!" Naruto stumbled backwards when she said that sentence. Temari jumped and straddled herself on top of him. She brought the kunai high above her head. "Die!"

"That's enough." Zabuza's hand came out of nowhere and grabbed the girl's hands before they could descend and plunge the kunai into Naruto's heart.

"Don't interfere! This is something I have to do!" Temari struggled to get her hands free.

"I don't understand." Haku had watched the whole thing with mild interest until Naruto had tumbled. He had been about to jump in when Zabuza vanished and appeared next to them. "I thought your whole village hated Gaara. Why avenge him?"

"I did hate him! I was afraid of him!" Tears began dripping from the girl's eyes. "B-but…but he was still my brother! No matter how hard I tried to be happy he was gone I couldn't! He…Gaara…" The tears fell onto Naruto's face who lay there unmoving.

"Let her go, Zabuza." The blond boy finally said. Zabuza gave a small grunt of surprise and Temari's eyes shot open. "You want to kill me for killing Gaara?" Naruto stared straight at Suna Kunoichi with complete composer. "Then do it. I won't fight back. I regret that I killed Gaara too, but what I regretted even more was that I let someone die who didn't know what it was like to be loved."

Zabuza looked back and forth between the two for a moment before he let Temari's hands go. "Zabuza-san!" Haku took a panicked step forward as Temari's hands fell to her sides.

"Let them do what they want. You heard the brat. If he wants to die on the floor like a dog then let him. I'm too hungry to deal with this." Zabuza turned and strolled off towards the kitchen.

"I'll really do it." Temari said as she brought the kunai back above her head.

"I won't blame you. I'm glad I found at least one other person that cared about him before I died." Naruto didn't even look at the kunai. He stared directly into Temari's eyes.

The girl closed them before giving a blood-curdling scream and swinging the kunai down. "Naruto-san!" Haku couldn't watch. He took a step forward and drew his senbon needles but it was too late. Temari had struck…

…the floor right next to Naruto's head.

"I haven't forgiven you." Temari stumbled up to her feet. "Nor do I accept being a Kunoichi of this village. I only came here because my father ordered me to."

"That's fine." Naruto sat himself up. He hadn't closed his eyes even when the kunai had descended towards him.

"Is ramen the only thing we fricken have in this place?" Zabuza yelled as he slammed a couple cupboard doors shut at once.

"How long have you lived here and you're just figuring that out?" Naruto deadpanned.

"Screw it! I'm going out to get something to eat. Don't kill one another while I'm gone." Zabuza stopped at the door. "On second thought, maybe things will be a little quieter if you do." With a loud laugh, Zabuza disappeared. The door was left wide open.

"What's with that guy?" Temari asked as she looked around for an explanation.

They both shrugged. "It's Zabuza." They said together.

"Is everyone here in Konoha that weird? I have yet to meet someone normal." She sighed as she plopped down on the couch.

"It's Konoha." They said together.

Temari turned and glared at them. She then let out another sigh. "Why am I stuck in this village? Why couldn't it have been Kankuro?"

A quiet knock on the open door caught all of their attention. All three Genin spun to see Sakura standing in the open doorway. "Uh…hey." She mumbled, tucking a strand of her long pink hair behind her head.

"Sakura? What are you doing here?" Naruto asked in surprise. "How did you even know where I lived?"

"Hinata told me." Sakura answered. She had yet to move from the spot. "I just wanted to stop by and give my thanks. My team's thanks. We owe you so much for saving us in the Forest." As she talked, her eyes trailed over to Temari.

Naruto looked back and forth between them, an idea slowly forming in his mind. "Sakura, this is Temari. She was Gaara's older sister."

"I know who she is." Sakura and Temari's eyes were locked with one another.

"Good, then you'd have no problem with taking her in for us then." Haku turned to Naruto in surprise.

"No way!" Both Sakura and Temari said simultaneously.

"Come on…you just said you owe me!" Naruto dropped to his knees and clasped his hands together. He also looked at Temari as he did. "And do you want to live with three guys in a single apartment." Temari seemed to ponder this for a moment. Naruto had a good point there. She turned to see Sakura also seemed to be seriously thinking about what he said.

Sakura let out a sigh. "I don't like you and I don't know why you're staying in the village, but if you need to place to say, I'm sure I can convince my parents."

Temari slowly stood up from the couch and walked into the back room. Everyone watched with curiosity to see what she was doing. A moment later and Temari returned with a set of bags in either hand. She walked straight up to Sakura and dropped them down. "I'm in your care." She said, extended her hand.

"Right." Sakura shook her hand. "This squares us, Naruto!" Sakura yelled a little louder.

"Got it, got it." Naruto waved it off. "I'm sure we'll be seeing you around, Temari. You're going to be on Haku's team after all."

"Whatever." Temari picked up her bags and walked out.

"Have a good day." Sakura bowed to them before shutting the door and running after her.

With the door shut, Naruto and Haku turned and looked at one another before they both broke into huge grins. "Naruto-san, you continue to surprise me."

"I surprise myself sometimes!" Naruto gave a huge yawn as he began to stroll off towards his room. "Now if you'll excuse me. I have a bed with my name on it."

He was going to have to get up early tomorrow, his real training was about to begin.

* * *

Dosu slowly walked through the underground labyrinth that was Orochimaru's hideout and base of operations for the assault on Konoha that was supposed to happen in just a month. Kabuto walked just in front of him and Zaku and an undead Kin walked to either side of him. He still couldn't believe Kabuto had managed to bring her back to life. The question now was, what was he going to do with her?

Another thing Dosu had never realized was how many people there were in the organization. That was, until he walked into the giant room that they were having their emergency meeting in. The reality that they were actually an army of Shinobi finally hit him. They stood up on a massive wooden stage that had been constructed. He wondered how Kabuto exactly planned to explain everything that had happened. Furthermore, how were they going to be able to attack? Kabuto hadn't told them anything.

Kabuto smiled wickedly as he looked out over the faces of all the Shinobi that were under his control. They just didn't know it yet. He shouldn't even say faces. One thing about being a Otogakure Shinobi was the requirement to wear a full face mask. Only the eyes were visible of all the Shinobi present. That was the way it should be. An army of faceless nobodies, expendable pieces of trash.

"Shinobi of Otogakure!" Kabuto spread his arms wide and spoke in a booming voice. He had to restrain himself from saying the last word sarcastically. A village? They were nothing more than a group of rogues. Yet Orochimaru had been insistent on them being a village. It was pathetic really. Probably the Sannin overcompensating for the fact he was unable to become Hokage. Kabuto brushed these thoughts aside and continued talking.

"I bring you grave news." No one breathed a word. "Orochimaru-sama…is dead." Kabuto had to hide the big smile he wanted to show as gasps and murmurs echoed throughout the vast room.

"What are we going to do? We cannot invade Konoha without him!" One man yelled.

"With Suna having turned against us, surely attacking now would be suicide!" Another man yelled. Now Kabuto had to keep the disgust from showing. Who did these people think they were? As if their lives meant anything. If he told them to actually commit suicide they were expected to do it. If not, he would just give them a little _help._

Instead of saying any of this aloud though, he held his hand up and silence slowly resumed back over the crowd. "You say that without an ally we have no chance? Without our leader there is no hope?" Kabuto looked around and saw a couple brave, foolish souls nod. He would take care of them later.

"I say otherwise! Orochimaru-sama planned to use a third-rate Jinchuriki and fight the Hokage on his own! Yet the Jinchuriki was killed by a Genin and he was murdered by a mere Jonin! Does it sound like his plan had any hope of winning to begin with?" Kabuto smiled as people started shaking their heads now.

"I have a different plan! We will not rely on some outside force! Instead we will destroy them from within and using our own materials!" Kabuto shouted. "You see, Orochimaru-sama didn't have the designs for a secret weapon that I have!"

"Secret weapon?" Someone else in the crowd shouted curiously.

Kabuto's grin got bigger. The group was starting to get excited. People were so easy to control. "That's right. We are going to mass produce this weapon and achieve victory! Konoha and all the other nations will shake in fear before this power!"

"What about our lack of manpower?"

Kabuto adjusted his glasses. "Orochimaru-sama only wanted to use our Shinobi stationed in the Land of Fire. I have given the call to pull in every Shinobi we have from around the continent!" People's murmurs got louder as they began to see a glimmer of victory in Kabuto's words.

"What about the problem with the jinchuriki?" Someone else shouted.

"Orochimaru-sama failed because he wanted to rely on the Ichibi. That's why he recruited Suna." Kabuto stared everyone else in the eyes. "I, however, plan to rely on something much more powerful. Better yet, something already within Konoha's walls." Kabuto paused for dramatic effect. "We will use the Kyuubi!"

Roars of approval erupted from the men. Kabuto basked in the sounds of their confidence. He had a good feeling, he wasn't going to lose. Kabuto turned and began to walk off. He would have to set them all on constructing his "secret weapon" right away.

"Hey, hey. What is this weapon?" Zaku asked curiously as he bounced around in excitement. Kabuto quickly led the group of Genin into a hallway. Kimimaro appeared from behind them.

"You'll see soon enough." Kabuto nodded to Kimimaro who placed a hand on Zaku's shoulder. "Follow him. We are going to perform so more surgery on you. He shall prep you for it."

"So I'm going to get stronger?" Zaku asked, a greedy gleam in his eye. Kabuto only had to nod and Zaku happily followed Kimimaro away.

"What about us?" Dosu asked, a bad feeling in his gut.

"You should be asking about yourself." Kabuto raised his hand and formed a single seal. Before anyone could react he said a single phrase. "Kai!" Dosu watched in shock as Kin crumbled apart into dust.

"What did you do?" He shouted as he looked down at the remains of his teammate.

"I released her soul. These tags aren't easy to make and she served her purpose." Kabuto gave an evil smile as he pulled a kunai with a strange tag on the end of it out of the pile of dust. "I'll have to inform Konoha that Kin is going to be sick the day of the tournament."

Dosu eyed Kabuto warily now. For all he knew, he would be done in next. "Now then, this is for you." Kabuto pulled out a syringe needle with a dark purple fluid inside of it.

"What is that?" Dosu took a hesitant step back.

"This is the cursed seal extract that Orochimaru had planned to give to Sasuke. If you survive the injection, you'll have the powers rivaling that of the Sound Four and Kimimaro." Kabuto took a step closer and placed a hand on Dosu's shoulder. "What do you say?"

"I don't need it." Dosu shook his head but Kabuto's smile only got bigger.

"You don't have a choice."

* * *

Naruto, Lee, Hinata, and Haku all stood waiting for Guy-sensei to show up. It was already fifteen minutes past their usual training time.

Hinata shut her Byakugan off and shook her head. "I guess Guy-sensei won't be showing up after all."

"He is hospitalized. He'd have to sneak out to come train us." Haku didn't doubt it happening though…and he was exactly right.

"Good morning my students!" They all turned to see Guy standing proudly in the clearing. Although, he shouldn't have looked nearly so proud being he was using a crutch to support himself.

"Guy-sensei!" His three students shouted happily.

"Unbelievable." Haku shook his head but smiled anyways.

"No time to dawdle my students, we must be going!" Guy turned and started limping away from the clearing.

"Going?" Several of them asked at once.

"Yes, I will be taking you to a special place to conduct your training for the exams." Guy turned and gave them all a shiny smile.

"Where?" Lee asked excited.

"It's a secret!" Guy smiled and wagged his finger. He then frowned slightly at Haku. "I apologize, but I am going to have to ask that you sit this training out."

Haku nodded in understanding. "I have a feeling you are going to be gone for awhile."

Guy's smile got even brighter. "That's right. We're taking a trip out of the village for our final training. I would appreciate it if you would let their training partners' and sensei's know. I also notice that Shikamaru-kun isn't around."

"He needs to be hospitalized for another week." Hinata explained immediately.

"I'll let him know as well. When should I expect you back?" Haku made some mental notes. He was going to be busy today.

"The day before the start of the tournament." Guy answered before he continued his trek.

"We'll see you Haku!" Naruto ran off excitedly. He couldn't wait to start this new training.

"Let Ayame know for me!" Lee shouted. He knew she was going to be pissed. He hadn't had a chance to come and see her after the Forest of Death. Not to mention he hadn't even been back and whole day and yet he was suddenly leaving the village.

"Also inform my clan that I have not been abducted." Hinata bowed to him before she took off after her team.

"I got it, I got it." Haku ran his hand through his hair. He was going to be busier than what he thought. Then another thought suddenly hit him. They weren't taking any supplies or a change of clothes. Just where were they going that Guy would take them without those essentials? They were going to be gone a whole month after all. Haku shrugged the thought off. No need in worrying about them.

They always did things differently, after all.


	21. Final Training

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_Final Training_

* * *

Sasuke slowly strolled into the training ground that his team usually met at every morning. It had been quite awhile since they had been here thanks to the exams.

"You're late!" Sasuke didn't even flinch at Tenten's expected yells. How she could scream so loud in the morning was beyond him.

"Sorry." Sasuke waved his hand in greeting. "I got lost."

"Don't go sounding like Kakashi-sensei!" She yelled. "We need to start some serious training! The final exam is in a month!"

"It's not like it matters." Neji's calm voice stood in stark contrast to Tenten's constant screams.

"Huh?" Tenten and Sasuke both gave the genius a curious glance.

"I said it doesn't matter. Our competition is nothing more than trash anyways. Those failures don't stand a chance against us no matter how hard they train or how little we do." Neji smirked lightly as he talked and looked between both his teammates.

Tenten grimaced. She liked Neji a lot but she really wished he wouldn't say things like that. It wasn't his place. She opened her mouth to berate him but another voice beat her to it. "I wouldn't underestimate them if I were you. They might surprise you." Tenten, mouth still open, turned a surprised gaze to Sasuke.

Neji too gazed at Sasuke, however his gaze was much colder. "Surprise me? The only thing that surprises me lately is your attitude since the Forest of Death."

Sasuke stared at Neji just as coldly. He had started to look to the older boy as a big brother. Lately though, Sasuke was beginning to doubt Neji and his philosophies. "Why? Because I'm willing to accept that Naruto's team isn't bound to lose forever because of fate?"

"That's precisely why." Tenten backed up slightly. Even without their eye powers, both boys could get intimidating with their staring contests.

"I've done a lot of thinking lately, Neji." Sasuke wasn't willing to back off this time. Normally he would have backed off by now. "If I continued to follow your theory what does that say about me? Doesn't that mean no matter how hard I try I will always be behind my brother? I can't accept something like that!"

"Tch, fine." Neji turned and walked away. "Come on Tenten. We have training to do." Neji walked for a few more steps before stopping. He didn't hear Tenten's footsteps following him.

"I agree with Sasuke this time…Neji." Tenten hesitated for a second before continuing. "I've been training with Hinata a lot lately. She's not the same girl you remember. They're all changing and growing stronger at an incredible rate. If nothing else, we owe it to them to acknowledge their strength!" Tenten was shouting by the time she had finished.

"…" Neji didn't even reply. Instead he just continued walking. Both his teammates watched him silently until he was out of sight.

"Tenten…thanks." Sasuke scratched his head. He wasn't used to getting along with the older girl. They almost always bickered.

"Hey, don't mention it." Tenten walked a little closer and hit Sasuke lightly on the shoulder. "Neji's right though, you've been a lot different since the Forest of Death."

"I've had some…eye-opening experiences lately. Or something like that." Sasuke continued to scratch his head awkwardly.

Tenten shook her head. "It's a good thing. You're becoming somewhat likable now."

"Gee, thanks." Sasuke gave Tenten a sarcastic glare.

"Don't mention it. Now come on, we should get some training in before Sensei shows up." Sasuke's eyes widened at Tenten's suggestion. "Don't look so surprised. With Neji the way he is it'll be better for all parties involved if we do it this way."

Sasuke nodded after a moment of thought. "I got a few new tricks to show you anyways." He smirked while forming Naruto's favorite seal.

"Well, well. This is a surprise." Kakashi appeared in the training ground just as another solid Sasuke popped into existence.

"Oh my gosh! You're actually on time!" Kakashi's one eye smiled for him. Sometimes Tenten's responses were just too predictable.

"So what happened to Neji?" Kakashi didn't see him in the clearing at all. Of course, normally Sasuke was the only one here at all at this time. Kakashi hated to admit it, but he doubted no matter how many times he ran the bell test, the idea of the three of them working together would ever set in.

"Neji decided that slacking off and underestimating his opponents was a better option than preparing." Tenten knew Neji probably was training hard in secret but she was still too mad to acknowledge that.

"I see…" Kakashi clearly had no idea what Tenten meant but he figured that saying what he did was much safer than asking any further.

"What do you think of our odds of one of us winning in this tournament?" The original Sasuke looked at Kakashi expectantly.

"Winning…huh?" Kakashi rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Knowing the training Guy is putting his team through, I'd say we're going to have to step up things a level ourselves if we're going to have any chance."

"That'd be easier if you continue to show up on time." Tenten muttered darkly, causing Kakashi to rub his head in embarrassment.

"Yeah, maybe I should really start taking this more seriously too." Both Tenten and Sasuke gazed at Kakashi in surprise. "I couldn't have imagined that Guy's team could have advanced so far so fast. With you Sasuke, using your Sharingan made it easy to advance you quickly. However, these kids are improving even quicker. Frankly, it's frightening."

Sasuke nodded a couple times. "So what kind of training do you suggest?"

"Physical Exercise." Kakashi's one eye smiled again.

"Excuse me?" Both Tenten and Sasuke said at once.

"Listen, you guys have all the tools you need to win already. Sasuke with your sharingan and Tenten with your incredible knowledge of all weapons, right?" Sasuke and Tenten looked at each other and then back before nodding. "Those advantages mean nothing though if you can't even hit your opponent. We need to make it so you can keep up with them."

"This sounds painful…" Sasuke mumbled.

"It looks painful too." Tenten shuddered from the memories of Lee dragging himself to the training ground after one of their routines.

"What are we going to do about Neji?" Sasuke looked off into the distance as he asked about his teammate.

Kakashi gave them thumbs up. "You leave him to me."

* * *

"Hey, Guy-sensei…" Naruto moaned wearily as he strolled in line behind Lee. "…I know you're trying to be all mystical and ninja-ey, but can you tell us where we're going?" The group was traveling along a narrow mountain path with Guy in the lead. Behind him were Lee, Naruto, and lastly Hinata.

Normally, Naruto wasn't one to complain about such long treks, since training with Guy tended to burn your muscles out anyways. However, Naruto was getting sick of walking; they had left the village yesterday morning. Now it was noon the next day and they were still walking.

"We're almost there, Naruto!" Guy shouted exuberantly. No one would have even guessed he was injured if it wasn't for the fact that he was covered completely in bandages and still had to use a crutch to help himself walk. He was as energetic as ever. "I know it is hard to tell because of the tall trees but moments from now and we will reach the top of the mountain and that is when we will have arrived at our destination!"

"Oh!" Lee practically jumped with anticipation. "I am just burning with youthful anxiety to know what awaits us at the end of this grand trek!"

Hinata giggled slightly at her teammate's antics. While she was also exhausted, she couldn't complain. It felt great to be back together with her team, even if it was just for a walk.

"This is the last bend!" Guy shouted happily and picked up his pace just a little. Knowing that they were almost done, the rest of the group followed suit. They couldn't wait to see what was at the top.

They turned the corner and all three genin gasped in surprise at the sight that was suddenly in front of their eyes. A giant traditional, Japanese building stood in front of them. Atop the building sat a golden dragon statue that seemed to be glaring down at them. No one could believe that they hadn't seen the building at all until just now.

Guy turned around at smiled at their agape faces. "Welcome! This is the place where we will do our final training! A Dojo passed down to me from my very own Sensei!"

Their eyes all focused on Guy when he mentioned that last bit. "Your sensei?" Lee was trembling with excitement. Even he had never heard Guy ever breathe a word about the man who had trained him in the ways of the Shinobi.

"Yes, if I am a magnificent beast, then it would only be right to say that my sensei had been an even more magnificent dragon." Guy's eyes went out of focus, yet a huge smile remained on his face.

"What happened to him?" Hinata couldn't help but notice how her sensei talked about his own in the past-tense.

"I shall explain his legacy in awhile. We have a little farther to go before I shall share his tale." All his students nodded solemnly and trekked behind their sensei and towards the giant dojo. Try as hard as they might, none of them could fathom the idea of losing their sensei.

Guy swung the massive doors open and light flooded into the dust filled, empty room. "We have some serious cleaning to do here." Guy smiled sadly at the state of the wooden floor. They continued walking to the other side of the room where a sliding door was. Dusty footprints marked every step. Guy swung the door open with ease to reveal a big garden that appeared to be in the middle of the structure. In the middle of the garden was a small pond and in the middle of that was another dragon statue made of rock. A small, wooden walkway led right to the statue.

The three genin looked up to see the open sky and parts of the giant golden statue. "On the other side of this garden are the living quarters. As you noticed, the front part is the dojo. This here…this is sensei's grave." Guy slowly approached the small dragon statue. In front of it, the group noticed a golden plaque with writing on it.

"Saikyou Hiro." Guy read the name aloud for them. "Hiro-sensei, as my teammates and I called him. The man who revolutionized Taijutsu and taught me everything I know." Guy got onto his knees and clapped his hands together in prayer. Wordlessly, all three genin did the same.

The three of them all finished within a few seconds but Guy sat completely still for a whole minute. They had no idea Guy was even capable of being so still for that long. Finally, Guy's eyes snapped open and he jumped to his feet. "Yosh! Now I feel completely rejuvenated!" He turned and smiled brightly at his students.

"Guy-sensei…" Naruto smile awkwardly at the Jonin.

"Hiro-sensei died like a true Shinobi." Guy shot down any thoughts of sympathy. "He was truly a great and youthful man. My hair and spandex were inspired by him, as Lee is by mine."

All three genin looked at each other in surprise. "I had always thought you started that yourself." Lee finally admitted.

Guy broke into laughter. "If only I was genius enough to. No, Hiro-sensei was the original spandex-wearer of Konoha!"

"So what happened?" Naruto finally summed up the courage to ask. "Was it some awesome mission to save the village?"

Guy smiled brightly. "It can't be said for sure, but it was a mission that prevented the Fourth Great Shinobi War." Everyone's eyes widened. "Konoha got their hands on some vital information that had the power to ruin the other nations. On their way back they were ambushed by a group of powerful Shinobi. Hiro-sensei was their guard and expert. So they could get away safely, he stayed behind and fought."

"How many of them did he take out? Did we get the information back into Konoha?" Lee asked excitedly. He was completely enveloped in the tale.

Guy again broke out into laughter. "Naturally, Hiro-sensei defeated all of them!" Confusion settled on all their faces.

"I don't understand." Hinata spoke slowly. "If he won, why did he die? Did he suffer serious injuries?"

Guy seemed thoughtful for a minute. "Something like that. Let me ask you something first before I explain more. Do you know why he was called a dragon?" Everyone shook their heads. "He was named after his most powerful technique. It is in a way the same with me. Do you know my most powerful technique?"

Lee didn't know where his sensei was going with this, but he knew the answer without even having to think. "Hirudora."

Guy nodded. "After opening six gates, one is capable of using the first of the three most powerful Hachimon techniques, Asa Kujaku. When you open seven, you can use Hirudora…"

Their eyes widened in realization. "He opened the Death Gate…" Naruto whispered in awe.

Guy nodded. The Morning Peacock, the Daytime Tiger, and finally…the Evening Dragon…Yoruryu." Guy's smile almost seemed bitter. "Do you know why it is called that?" Again, they all shook their heads. "Yoruryu is nothing more really than just a powerful fist. It's unblockable, undodgable, the ultimate double-edged sword. When it is used, supposedly the great flames that erupt from the user make the sky appear as if it was dusk…and when it ends, everything that was in its path is put to an eternal slumber."

"How do you learn such a technique?" Hinata felt weak in the knees. "Practicing it is impossible, how would someone even know to use it?"

Guy shook his head. "No one knows. Perhaps it was just youthful inspiration? Perhaps the Death Gate itself teaches you the move? It is a mystery that can only be solved by those about to die."

Everyone was again silent at Guy's heavy words.

Guy closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. After letting out a long, deep breath, his eyes shot open and he bellowed with all his might. "That's enough on about the past! We need to look towards the future!"

"Yes!" All three of them shouted at once. They were glad to see their sensei back to his usual self.

"In less than a month, you'll all be fighting in the Chunin Exam Finals. I had no doubt that you three would make it that far but I'd like to remind you that very few first timers actually even get past the First Exam." Guy beamed brightly at his students. "The most troubling fact about the Exams from here on out is that you are no longer teammates, but rivals."

"Rivals?" Naruto didn't like that sound of that. He had just had to fight Hinata to get her back. He didn't want to have to go through that again.

"It's different than your last mission." Guy almost seemed to read Naruto's mind. "Rivals and enemies are different. You may have to fight each other but I want the three of you to remember one important fact while you battle."

Guy paused for dramatic effect.

"You're still friends."

"What about that Kakashi guy's team?" Naruto mumbled and looked down, looking somewhat embarrassed.

"Sasuke-san is your friend too. Hold nothing back but win or lose, smile at him and shake his hand when it's all over." Naruto's head shot up at the mention of the Uchiha.

"Who said I was talking about Sasuke? There's no way a jerk like that is my friend!" Naruto crossed his arms defiantly and huffed.

Hinata giggled lightly at her boyfriend. "Tenten-senpai will be my opponent in the first round." She spoke while turning back to her sensei. "I know she is proficient with weapons, but I am not aware of much else. We've only trained on archery together."

Guy smiled and nodded. "Not a problem!" He dropped a small pouch on the ground in front of his students. "In here are lists of documents that I compiled. Everything I know and managed to gather about each of your opponents are in here. You will be studying them before you go to bed every night."

"What about physical training?" Lee was practically bouncing off his feet. It had been so long since he had actually trained.

"There will be plenty of that too! However, there is something more pressing than that first!" Guy gestured the garden around them.

All three genin looked around at the overgrown grass and weeds that covered that entire garden. The pond was dark and covered in moss. They also remembered the dusty footprints they left in the dojo.

"We have to clean, don't we?" Naruto sighed depressingly. He hated cleaning.

"That's right! Follow me and we shall get started!" Guy seemed ecstatic at the idea of cleaning himself, and immediately set off towards the left side of the building.

"What's this way, Guy-sensei?" Lee fell into line with his sensei. He didn't particularly like cleaning either but that sooner they got done, the sooner he could begin training.

"We'll need a change of clothes. Over here is our Dojo attire and the hot springs where we'll be bathing every night." Guy slid open another door and revealed what looked like an old locker room. Cubbyholes littered the entire room. Each one appeared to have some white piece of clothing in it.

"What are these?" Naruto walked up and grabbed one and held it out. It was made of a light cloth material. "Is this supposed to be an open shirt?"

"Allow me to show you how it's worn." No one quite understood what happened. One second Guy was standing there with his crutch and spandex. The next and his crutch was on the floor along with his Spandex. Guy stood butt-naked and proud in front of his students.

"G-Guy-sensei!" Naruto covered his face with the shirt he was holding. "What the hell! Put some pants on! What about Hinata?" A dull thud was the answer to his question. He didn't need the Byakugan to know that she had probably just passed out for the first time in a long time.

"Ah! I see this must be a new kind of training!" Lee pounded his fist in his open palm as he figured it out.

"Don't you join him!" Naruto yelled too late.

* * *

Neji quietly perfected the rotation technique he had watched Hinata perform in the forest.

While his body continued to spin and expel chakra, his mind was not in it at all. He didn't understand his teammates. They were geniuses like him, weren't they? So why didn't they understand? Was he the only one that really saw the truth of the world?

"Yo!" Neji slowly stopped his spinning and turned to look at his sensei. Neji wasn't really sure what to make of the copy ninja most times. It was obvious he was genius and as such was incredibly powerful, but Neji didn't understand his obsessiveness with teamwork. Sure, Neji worked well with Tenten most times but that's because they were both strong Ninja. If the Forest of Death had taught Neji anything, it was that teamwork could be more of a hindrance than a help. Being stuck with Hinata's team had proven that.

"I see you've almost finally mastered the Kaiten. You've been working on it for a long time. Seeing Hinata use it must have given you the final piece you needed." Kakashi's eye lazily looked around at the ground that had been split up by Neji's spinning shield.

"Yes, with this, my defense will finally be complete." Neji wasn't sure what Kakashi's aim was, but as his sensei, he must want him to do well in the tournament.

"Will it?" Neji's eyes widened slightly but he immediately hid his surprise. He had no doubt Kakashi had noticed it though. Neji waited in silence for a few moments for Kakashi to go on. When he showed no signs of doing so, he decided to ask.

"What do you mean?" Kakashi's one eye smiled for him at Neji's question.

"Was that so hard to ask? What I mean is you rely far too heavily on your clan's doujutsu for your defense. There are other things I can teach you that will make you untouchable."

Neji didn't bother to hide his surprise this time. "What exactly are you proposing?"

"Doton Ninjutsu and a few Genjutsu. Combine those with your already perfected taijutsu and you'll be impenetrable. A complete Ninja that uses all three of our arts." Kakashi enjoyed watching the expressions play across Neji's face. For someone who thought he knew everything about emotions, he sure could be an open book at times.

"Why are you teaching me these things? What about Sasuke and Tenten?" Neji said after a few moments of consideration.

"I am placing my bet on you to win this tournament." Kakashi said honestly, causing a huge grin to spread across Neji's face. Finally, someone else that seemed to understand. He was a genius, it was his fate to win.

"When do we start?" Kakashi's one eye continued to smile at the confidence spewing out of Neji.

"Immediately."

* * *

Naruto, Lee, and Hinata all stood in front of their sensei in the now clean dojo. They all wore the karategi that Guy had given them and eager awaited instructions for their final training.

"Alright team! It is time that I instruct you on what we shall be doing for the month!" Guy shouted as he looked at each of his students. They all tensed up slightly in anticipation. "The training from here on out will be simple but brutal…for the next few weeks all I want you to do is fight me."

No one said anything for a few moments. Then, "What the hell do you mean by that?"

"An excellent question, Naruto!" Guy swung his crutch around as he talked. "If you haven't figured it out by now, I am a man of repetition. I believe in beating the basics into you until even your muscles have the techniques memorized. Having said this, I believe the three of you already know everything you need to know to do well in the Shinobi world. The one thing you lack is real experience."

Lee raised his hand before speaking. "Is just fighting you really qualified as gaining real experience?"

"I will of course be holding back, but you better be ready to go all out. You three won't have a chance at all otherwise. Even if I am relying on this crutch right now, I want you guys to hold nothing back. That's the only way you'll get stronger."

"But how do you want to do this? Should we take turns coming at you?" Hinata wasn't really sure she understood the training but judging by her teammate's faces, she doubted they did either.

"No, just come at me all together. You're a team and even if you won't be in the ring that's no reason not to train as one. Besides, you'll find that it will make this training much easier than if you try it by yourself. I am a Jonin, remember that." Guy gave his students another shiny smile.

"Is it really alright to go all out in here?" Naruto tapped the floor with his foot. "I mean, won't we break something?"

Guy shook his head. "That's why we are training in this dojo. The floor and walls are enhanced with chakra. It'll take some very serious effort, even from you guys to damage anything." Guy continued to smile at them for a full minute. No one asked any more questions. "If that's all, then you guys can come at me when ready. When you move the training begins."

Naruto who stood to the left of the group looked to Lee and Hinata. They both looked back at him. Lee shrugged awkwardly and Hinata just shifted her weight from foot to foot timidly. "Well…I guess I'll start." Naruto mumbled. He slowly brought his hands up to his most used seal. Just as he began to pump chakra to form the jutsu he felt all the wind leave his body.

"You're slow, Naruto." Guy stood right in front of his student; the peg of his crutch was buried in Naruto's stomach. "You're opponent won't let you complete anything if you form seals at that speed." As Guy talked he pulled his crutched back and his foot was already moving forward. It caught Naruto right under the chin and the blonde was sent flying backwards.

"Naruto-kun!"

"Naruto!" Neither Hinata nor Lee could believe what they just saw. The truth didn't really register until Naruto's body ungracefully hit the floor.

"I told you, when you move the training begins." Guy said simply. "If either of you move a step or take a stance I'll take it that you're ready. This is why I said you'll want to do this together."

Lee and Hinata remained rooted to the spot. They couldn't believe their sensei would use such a violent form of training. Suddenly, the sound of Naruto chuckling pulled them out of their stupor. "Interesting." Naruto stumbled back to his feet. "This training should actually be pretty good. If I can keep up with sensei, I can keep up with anyone." Naruto brought his face up and his eyes were no longer blue but red. "Alright, Guy-sensei, you said hold nothing back so I hope you're ready!"

Red chakra burst from Naruto in a violent wave. A moment later and the blonde disappeared and was behind Guy in a flash, his foot swinging around in a kick. "That's more like it." Guy smiled brightly while blocking the kick with his crutch. "However, you have a long way to go before you'll be able to keep up with me." The back of Guy's fist buried itself in Naruto's cheek faster than anyone could blink and the blonde was again rocketed across the room.

"Konoha Senpu." Lee delivered a powerful kick that connected right in the center of his sensei's stomach. Yet Guy stood completely unfazed, as if nothing had hit him.

"Good to see you get it, Lee, but you'll need to quit holding back if you intend to get anything out of this training." Guy grabbed onto Lee's still outstretched leg and slammed his student into the floor at his feet. "Don't expect your opponent to hold back just because you know each other or you are friends. That is the quickest way to losing in this tournament."

Guy's hand shot upwards and he caught an arrow just before it hit him in the side of the head. "Excellent Hinata. I see you still remember to aim for when your opponent is talking." Guy vanished and appeared in front of Hinata, his elbow coming down towards her head. "However, you are all making a vital mistake here."

Before his elbow could connect, Naruto was there, his arms brought up in a block. "If that mistake was not coordinating together, then don't worry, we're on it." Naruto gave Guy a feral smile.

"You have always learned fast, Naruto." Guy didn't press on the attack. Instead he backed up quickly in order to avoid Hinata's coming Jyuuken strike. He realized just then that he messed up. Hinata wasn't in her stance but instead already had the next arrow ready to go. She let it fly and before Guy could bring his crutch up to defend, he felt Lee's grip on his arm.

"Got you now!" Lee shouted in triumph. However, a second later and he felt the ground disappear beneath his feet. Guy had jumped high to avoid the arrow and had taken Lee with him.

"Never assume you've won the fight. That could be when your opponent is most dangerous." A second later and Lee was sent flying straight towards the ground. Before he made contact, Naruto managed to catch him while sliding. "You've learned to time your cloning excellently, Naruto." Guy complimented as three more Naruto's threw shuriken at his midair form. Meanwhile, Hinata added another arrow to the mix.

Just before any of them made contact though, all the shuriken and the arrow just seemed to stop in midair before falling uselessly to the ground. Guy followed after them and landed easily on his feet. Even after all this he continued to lean on his crutch. "I do hope the three of you don't plan on stopping there." Guy didn't look like he had even broken a sweat. "We'll be doing this all day for the next month so I hope you have more to offer than that."

"Oh, just wait." Naruto said as he pulled his chakra knives out.

"We're not anywhere near done." Hinata said as she slid into her Jyuuken stance.

Lee began unwrapping the bandages he still had on his arms. "When this month is up, we'll be the ones on top."

Guy cracked his neck a couple times as he waited for their attack.

"I wouldn't expect anything less."


	22. Festival

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_Festival_

* * *

"Haku-kun!" Teuchi greeted the only customer who ever came in before the sun was up anymore.

"Good morning." Haku bowed. He didn't want to admit it, but every day since Team Guy had left, he had come here to eat a bowl of ramen.

"Would that be the usual for you?" The older man smiled and began making the noodles. Haku nodded as he took his seat.

"There you are!" Haku turned a curious gaze to Ayame who had just emerged from the back. "Tomorrow is the day of the finals! I thought you said Lee would be back by now!"

"The day has only just started, Ayame-san. Lee-san will be back. Just give him time." Haku spoke irritably. Ayame had been in a foul mood since Lee had left without saying anything…again. That didn't give her the right to take it out on him though.

She was right though. It had been three weeks now since they had left. In that time Haku hadn't heard anything from them. He had no way of knowing how his friends were doing at all. If he was going to be perfectly honest, he felt left out. Strange, Haku mused. He never would have imagined that he could feel that way. Proof that living in Konoha had really changed him.

"The two of us are going to have a long talk when he gets back!" Ayame continued to rant as she diced up vegetables. "Just because he is a Shinobi doesn't mean he can just run off all the time without saying anything! Who does he think he is? He's like three years younger than me for crying out loud!"

"Sounds like someone missed me!" Haku whirled around in surprise and Ayame dropped her knife. Standing right behind the genin was Lee himself.

"Lee-san, you're back!" Haku shouted uncharacteristically. "What about Naruto-san and Hinata-san?"

"We're right here." Naruto raised the flaps in front of the noodle stand and walked in. Hinata appeared right next to him.

"It's good to see you guys again. How was training? Where did you go?" Haku was firing off questions before he even realized it.

"More importantly, what are you guys wearing exactly?" Haku hadn't noticed until Ayame asked her question, but all three of them were dressed strangely.

"These are our karategi. We wore them while we were training." Lee rubbed the soft material of his shirt as he answered her question.

"I never thought I'd see you in something other than spandex." Haku admitted aloud.

"Personally, I think this is an improvement." Ayame muttered from behind the counter. "If you don't switch back to the spandex I promise to forget about all the yelling at you I was going to do."

"That might be an offer work taking." Naruto plopped down on one of the stools. "Hey old man, three miso!"

"Coming right up, Naruto!" Teuchi was overjoyed at having his best customer back.

"I'm afraid I won't be giving up spandex. I will gladly accept any punishment you are willing to give." Lee bowed low to the girl behind the stand. "I apologize for my actions lately, I have just been caught up in preparing for this exam."

Ayame drummed her fingers on the counter as she stared at Lee for a while. "Damn." She finally sighed. "You know I can't stay so mad at you if you apologize like that." Ayame continued to chop up vegetables. "Don't think that means I won't yell at you after this tournament is over though." She grumbled as an afterthought.

"Yes!" Lee took a seat now as well.

"Say, Haku." Naruto called just as he was sitting back down as well.

"Yes, Naruto-san?" Haku looked over Lee's shoulders to meet Naruto's gaze.

"Any luck on finding a teammate yet?" As Naruto asked his question, a bowl was slid in front of him. Without waiting for an answer he began to inhale it.

Haku shook his head and talked anyways. "Not yet. No genin is in need of a team right now so it may be awhile. I have been meeting with Temari-san regularly though. It turns out that there is a lot to learn from her, so we've been training together."

"What have you been learning?" Hinata asked curiously. Naruto's face was still buried inside the bowl.

"My Kekkei Genkai is a combination of the water and wind affinities. This means I can use both types of jutsu with greater ease than normally. However, Zabuza-san was only capable of teaching me Suiton. Temari-san happens to have a little knowledge of Fuuton though and she's been helping me learn it."

Naruto finished his first bowl. "I should see if she can teach me something too. My affinity is wind after all."

"You wouldn't know it with the way you pump out Suiton though. I suppose having so much chakra makes it easy to do whatever you want." Haku didn't want to say it in front of Hinata, but he doubted Temari would be too thrilled at the idea of teaching Naruto anything, especially after their last encounter.

"Aren't you going with that Temari girl to the festival tonight?" Ayame asked as she leaned over the counter.

"Festival?" Naruto asked, suddenly curious.

"You know the festival they have every time the exams are held here? The festival you and Lee will be taking Hinata and me too." Ayame sent Lee a dangerous look as she said this.

"Do I have to dress up?" This was the first Naruto had heard of it. He had never been to a festival before.

"Not really, just wear your summer clothes. You better get ready to see Hinata in a yukata though."

"Will you also be in one?" Lee asked hopefully.

"Of course I will be!" Ayame stood proudly. "You better compliment me on it too. That's a five point deduction if you don't."

"Yes! I will shower you with the most youthful of compliments until I run out of breath or pass out!" Lee stood up so fast to salute that he knocked the stool over.

"Speaking of yukata, will Temari-san be in one?" Ayame just chose to ignore Lee's crazy antics.

Haku's nod was barely visible. "Sakura-san said she would lend her one for the night." He mumbled quietly. Lee noticed that his face was tinted slightly pink but chose not to say anything.

"So where's your sensei?" Teuchi asked as he set down Naruto's next bowl.

"He is informing Hokage-sama that we've returned." Hinata answered while she watched Naruto inhale his newest bowl.

"So we should set up a meeting spot for tonight." Ayame continued to talk about the festival, a happy gleam in her eye.

"Why don't we just meet here?" Naruto asked as he finished his next bowl.

"Why does it always have to be here? Can't it be someone else's house?" Ayame protested.

"We all know where this place is. It makes it convenient." Naruto pointed his chopsticks at her as he made his point.

"Fine, let's meet here. You better let Temari-san know. Tell her six o'clock." Ayame said as she turned back to Haku.

"I will." Haku nodded.

"If we got that all set, I'd like to go home and change." Naruto finished his last bowl, which no one had even seen him start.

Hinata nodded. "I must let my father know as well that I am back." She stood up with Naruto.

"I'll walk you home." Naruto muttered awkwardly.

Hinata smiled when he said that. "I'd appreciate it." Bowing to everyone, the two of them left together.

"You mind if I accompany you around, Haku-kun? I sure you want to know all about the intense training we endured." Lee asked as he turned to the ice-user.

"Not at all. I had planned to go home and wait for Naruto-san after informing Temari-san of our plans anyways." Haku laid his money on the table as he stood up.

"Excellent. Well then, I look forward to seeing you later tonight, Ayame!" Lee gave the older girl a flashy smile.

"That's what I like to here. You won't lose any points tonight if you keep that up." Ayame gave him a thumbs up as he and Haku walked away.

"What exactly do those points that she is talking about do?" Haku looked at Lee expectantly.

"I have no idea. I just go with it." Lee responded blissfully.

* * *

"Damn it, why are we always late?" Naruto shouted as he ran through the crowded streets of Konoha with Haku and Lee.

"If you didn't get so off track, things like this wouldn't happen." Haku irritably responded.

"I'm sure if we explain they will forgive us." Lee said hopefully as the ramen stand came into sight.

"You're late!" Temari and Ayame yelled together.

"It was Naruto's fault." Lee and Haku said immediately.

"What the hell happened to explaining it to them?" Naruto felt completely betrayed.

"Just when I was starting to have a better opinion of you lately too." They all turned in surprise to see Sakura standing there as well.

"Are you coming with us?" Naruto asked in surprise. He hadn't expected to see her here.

Sakura shook her head though. "I'm meeting up with Kiba and Shino."

"Oh…how is Shino?" Naruto had forgotten that Shino had lost his arm until just now.

"He's doing a lot better. He still has to take things slowly and the skin is still tender." Sakura had a far-away look as she talked about it. "He keeps saying that he'll be fine but I worry about him."

Naruto chuckled slightly.

"What's so funny? I'm being serious." Sakura raised her fist to hit him.

"It's just funny to hear you worry about him like that. He used to creep you and all the other girls in class out." Naruto scratched his head. "I didn't mean to laugh though, I'm sorry."

"No..." Sakura looked down sadly. "…you're right about that."

"Hey, don't worry about it." Naruto pushed her shoulder lightly. "You're making up for it now by caring so much."

"Thank you, Naruto." Sakura looked up and smiled at him. "I'll see you later. Goodbye, everyone." Hinata looked at the rest of them and bowed before she began walking away.

"Ahem." Ayame cleared her throat as she looked at the boys expectantly.

"Oh, yes!" Lee shouted and suddenly stood much straighter. He quickly nudged both of the other boys. "Just like we practiced." Lee whispered to them.

Haku and Naruto both grumbled quietly before turning to the girls with Lee. "You look very good in your yukata." They all said at once.

Ayame smacked her forehead. "It loses its effect if you all say the same thing!" She shouted at them.

"Right, we shall try again!" Lee opened his mouth to say more.

"Don't bother; it sounds gross coming from you guys anyway." Temari sneered. Naruto was surprised, he expected her to be glaring at him but instead she was looking at Haku.

Naruto thought about voicing this but the feeling of someone wrapping around his arm caught his attention. "Thank you for the compliment, Naruto-kun." Hinata said while smiling up at him. "I want to go gold fish scooping. I heard there is a stall just down the street."

"Y-yeah…" Naruto allowed Hinata to pull him away, a huge blush on his face.

Lee and Haku glared at him jealously. "Why can't our dates be like that?" Lee mumbled.

"You say something?"

"Nothing! We should follow after them! I'll be sure to win you something, Ayame!" Lee grabbed a hold of her arm and immediately dragged her off.

"Lee! What did I say about dragging me?" Ayame yelled in protest as she barely managed to keep Lee's pace.

Haku and Temari watched for a few moments in silence. "So…shall we go after them?" Haku mumbled while trying not to meet Temari's eyes. Instead of responding, Temari began walking after the others. "I'll take that as a yes." Haku sighed while he followed her.

It didn't take them long to get to the gold fish scooping stall where Naruto and Lee were already in a deep debate. "I could totally catch one way before you!" Naruto yelled.

"Nonsense! When it comes to goldfish scooping, I am a master!" Lee proclaimed proudly.

"You wanna test that?" Naruto grabbed one of the paper fish nets.

"Yeah, how about this, loser has to pay for anything the winner and his date wants!" Lee grabbed his own.

"You're on! Hurry up and grab yours Haku!" Both boys turned to the only boy not in the conversation.

"Huh?" Haku pointed to himself. "When did I get involved?"

"Just go." Temari pushed him forward.

"But Temari-san-"

"You better win. I intend to make them buy me a lot." Temari had an evil glint in her eye that made Hkau shiver slightly.

"Yes, ma'am." Haku sighed in defeat as he walked forward and grabbed his own goldfish scoop. "So how does this work?" He asked as he spun it around with his hand.

"Just catch the fish." Naruto was already staring the fish down as he held his net in a ready position.

"You have to get one before us, not that it will happen." Lee was shaking in anticipation.

Haku rubbed his temple. He should have known there was no use getting information out of them. "Shall I count down from three?" The other two nodded. "Three, two, one. Go!" Haku made no move to go but Naruto and Lee swung theirs in at once.

"I got you now!"

"The win is mine!"

"Huh?" Both boys' nets instantly ripped apart upon contact with the water.

"What the hell? My net was rigged! You cheated!" Naruto yelled while pointing at Lee.

"I cheated? You are the one who rigged _my_ net!" Lee yelled back.

"I got one."

"Huh?" Naruto and Lee both turned to see Haku holding a fish in his net, smiling proudly.

"How did you do that?"

Haku shrugged. "It was quite easy. Turns out you just have to gently guide it through the water. Your nets ripped because you forced them in too fast." Haku handed his fish to the stand owner who put it in a bag for him.

"Now if I remember right, I recall someone saying they would pay for the winner and his date's expenses." Naruto and Lee shivered as they slowly turned around. Temari stood there smiling quite evilly. They had a bad feeling in the pit of their money pouches.

Several hours later and the group sat down at a couple of benches outside of the Hokage Tower. Bags littered their feet and to Naruto and Lee's dismay, they were mostly for Temari.

"Hey! Hinata! Lee!" Everyone looked up at the unexpected shout. They saw Tenten running up to them waving her arm happily.

"Tenten-senpai!" Hinata got to her feet and greeted her friend.

"I see you're all having a good time." Tenten observed all the bags at their feet. Naruto and Lee both groaned at that comment. "What's their problem?"

"They're both just sore losers." Temari smirked at them.

Tenten looked at the blonde strangely for a few moments. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

"She was on one of the teams from Sunagakure." Another voice said from behind Tenten.

Tenten gave a slight shriek before turning around. "I told you not to do things like that Sasuke!" She yelled at the raven-haired boy.

"Sasuke-san?" Hinata asked in curiosity. She looked between Tenten and Sasuke for a few moments. "Are you two here together?"

"It's not a date or anything." Sasuke said in a hurry. "Just two teammates enjoying our last day before the tournament."

"I thought Tenten would be here with Neji though." Lee butted his way into the conversation.

Tenten scoffed lightly at Neji's name. "I haven't talked to that asshole in weeks."

"W-what happened? You two always trained together before!" Lee couldn't comprehend this sudden change. They had always been such good friends.

"Neji took things too far." Tenten muttered under her breath. "He doesn't seem to accept you guys as rivals in this tournament at all."

"He'll figure it out tomorrow when they all whip your asses!" Ayame yelled from her spot on the bench.

"We haven't been sitting around doing nothing this past month." Sasuke glared at Ayame.

"We'll all do our best." Hinata said quickly, attempting to defuse the situation.

"Yes! We shall put all our youth into tomorrow's battle!" Lee pumped his fist enthusiastically.

"It stinks though, that we have to fight right in our first round." Tenten said to Hinata.

Hinata nodded sadly. "We'll do our best." She repeated.

"Come to think of it, if that Kin chick really doesn't show up, I'll be fighting Sasuke in our first round too." Naruto rubbed his chin as he thought about it.

"She won't show up." Sasuke said with conviction. "I watched that arrow scatter her brains. There's no way she is alive. Whatever they did to make her appear won't work at the actual tournament."

"Guess that means I don't have to worry about someone else whipping you before I get to." Naruto smiled brightly at the Uchiha.

"Heh, as if I'd let anyone beat me before I could put you in your place anyways." Despite small, Sasuke managed to smile back.

"Well, well. Look at all of you young shinobi. It makes me happy to see that despite being opponents in the tournament tomorrow that you can all talk so happily together." Everyone turned in surprise to see the Hokage standing behind them smiling.

"What's up, old man?" Naruto waved happily to the Hokage, completely surprising everyone else.

"Naruto! You know you're not supposed to address Hokage-sama like that!" Ayame chided the blonde quickly.

"Aww come on, this is a festival. We're not on duty or anything." Naruto leaned back on the bench and stretched, almost as if to prove his point.

Ayame opened her mouth to yell at him but the sound of the old man laughing stopped her. "It's quite alright. Naruto used to be a lot worse than that. It's actually a little refreshing to hear that the old him is still around sometimes."

"I don't know about that." Sasuke mumbled. "When I think back to how much of an idiot he was at the academy, I think there's no way anyone could miss that."

"I don't think he's that much different." Hinata said after giggling quietly.

"Same as I always remember him." Lee added.

"So are you." Tenten said while looking at Lee. "Some people never change."

"I can't believe you can all talk so calmly in front of your leader like this!" Temari suddenly shouted as she stood up. "Such a lack of disrespect would be met with harsh discipline in my village!"

"That isn't your village anymore." Haku said quietly from next to her. She looked at him in surprise. "I know it is hard for you to imagine, but things like this are normal here. I couldn't get used to it at first either, but I really like the atmosphere here. Everyone is so friendly and carefree. Yet if their friends are in trouble, they'd go to any lengths to fight for them. Besides, Naruto already said it, but this is a festival. It's not disrespect, it's just having fun."

"Well said Haku." The Hokage walked forward and patted the boy lightly on the shoulder. "I knew it when I first laid eyes on you that you would make a fine addition to this village. You truly hold the Will of Fire that this village cherishes above all else."

"Will of Fire?" Temari turned back to the Hokage.

"It is the thing that gives us Konoha Shinobi our strength to go beyond all odds and defeat the impossible. Our will to protect our village and our own. Surely you may have seen it in action?"

Temari nodded almost immediately. She didn't have to think hard to think of a good example of it. If she thought about it, how else would some genin have been able to destroy the most terrifying person in her village? Especially if he hadn't wanted to.

"Well, I'll be turning in for the night. I recommend you all do the same. It's a big day tomorrow. Bear in mind though, while I can't force it, I hope that no matter what the outcome, you can all continue to talk and laugh like this again afterwards." The Hokage smiled one last time at the assembled group.

"Goodnight, Hokage-sama." Everyone said back as the old man walked off.

"Well…" Tenten yawned lightly before turning to Sasuke. "I say we head back too."

Sasuke nodded and they both turned to everyone else. "Goodnight everyone."

"Goodnight." They all responded back.

"That means we're taking off too." Temari said as she got up. "Let's leave the team to themselves."

"Yes." Haku immediately began picking up all her bags.

"Have fun carrying all that." Naruto laughed.

"Thank you for buying it all." Haku responded smoothly, causing Naruto's face to pale at the memory.

"Hurry up, Haku!" Temari yelled.

"Coming!" Haku yelled. He bowed to everyone. "If I don't see any you Hinata-san or Lee-san than I wish you best for tomorrow. I know you will all do your best."

"Yes! Goodnight Haku-kun! Hopefully, you will have a team capable of competing in next year's Chunin Exams!" Lee said enthusiastically.

"Haku!"

"See you." Haku bowed quickly once more before running after Temari, leaving his friends behind.

"You take too long." Temari scolded as she walked slowly down the street.

"I apologize. I was simply wishing them the best. They are my friends after all." Haku fell into pace with Temari.

"Friends…huh?" Temari seemed to contemplate this for awhile.

"It's funny actually." Haku smiled sadly. "They're the first friends my age that I've ever really had. I was always hanging out with Zabuza-san before and we never stayed in one place for long."

"I didn't ask for your life story." Temari grumbled.

"But it's important. I know you have a hard time getting along with everyone now, but you just need to open up. They'll accept you. They did me."

"Did you try to kill them in the past?" Temari spat, still remembering how she had almost stabbed Naruto in the head at his apartment. It didn't help that her brother ripped off their friend's arm.

"Well…yes, actually I did. Their first C-rank mission was to protect a man Zabuza-san and I were supposed to assassinate." Temari stopped walking immediately and turned to him in surprise.

"…" She stared at him for a full minute. "…so what happened?" She asked as she turned and started walking again.

Haku smiled and began walking next to her again. "I thought you didn't want my life story?"

"Don't be a smart-ass, it doesn't suit you."

Haku sighed. "I actually kidnapped Lee-san and then allowed myself to get captured. I lived with the other three members for a full week. In our last confrontation, I had made it look like I killed Naruto-san. Lee-san and Hinata-san nearly managed to kill me just trying to avenge him. I'm actually lucky I escaped with broken arms and one damaged lung."

Temari didn't mean to but she burst out laughing at that. "Damn, it really is a miracle you're all friends now. No, more than a miracle, it defies logic in a way that God couldn't even explain."

Haku nodded excitedly. "So you see. You can be their friend too."

"I'm not sure I want to be friends with people who break each other's arms before accepting one another." Temari turned the last corner that led onto her street.

"Is that really the only thing you got out of that story?" Haku held his head in defeat. It took him a couple seconds to notice that Temari had stopped walking again. "What's wrong?" He asked. He turned to look down the street and quickly got his answer.

Team Eight was walking down the street too. It was no surprise though, Sakura's apartment was here. It was still going to make a rather awkward moment. As far as Haku knew, Temari had never talked with either of the boys since she had started living here.

It was at that moment that Haku saw Sakura gasp in surprise. Kiba and Shino were quick to notice and turned. They both quickly locked eyes with Temari. Kiba's look was definitely less that friendly. "Temari-san…we can take a detour or something." Haku whispered.

Temari glared back at the others before closing her eyes and shaking her head. "No…" She started to walk forward again. When she got past Haku she spoke back up. "You asked me what I got from your story just now, right?" Haku nodded in confusion. "This is my answer."

She continued walking and stopped right in front of Team Eight. Haku quickly caught up to her so he could hear the conversation. "Good Evening." Temari said as she glared down at the three of them.

"You need something?" Kiba growled out.

"Kiba-kun!" Sakura elbowed him in the ribs. "Sorry, he's short tempered, sometimes-"

Temari shook her head. "It's alright. I understand the hostility but I really just want to apologize." Haku wasn't sure, but Temari's voice sounded pretty edgy and not all that apologetic.

"I know that what my brother did was over the line and we can never make up for it, but I really want you to know that I am sorry for what has been done. It would be terrible if your career is stunted over this." Temari addressed Shino directly.

The bug-user pushed up his glasses before speaking. "No such apology is necessary. Far worse fates befell those who fought your sibling before us. I will go as far as to say I am fortunate I only lost what I did. Furthermore, as I have told many people now, my career as a Shinobi is in no danger. Having said this, your thoughtfulness is appreciated and I hope you understand that I bear you no ill will."

Temari blinked several times. She hadn't expected such a lengthy response from him. She did nod though once she realized he had accepted her apology. She then turned to Kiba. "I don't owe you any kind of apology but know this, I like to pay back my debts and I owe you one for beating me in the forest. As a fellow comrade, I want a rematch someday."

Kiba looked taken aback before he gave a feral smirk. "Any time and any place. I'll whip you whenever you want."

"Good, that's all the business I had with the two of you. Sakura-san, I'll see you at home." Temari turned and began walking towards the apartment.

"Y-yeah, later." Sakura was still too stunned to completely process what had just happened. Had Temari and her team reconciled a little?

Haku ran after Temari before she could shout for him again. She was walking faster than before which made it more difficult too, since he was still carrying all that stuff. "So how was that?"

Haku didn't notice at first, and maybe it was because she was trying to hide it, but her arms were shaking quite badly. Haku gave a small smile that Temari couldn't see. "You did well."

* * *

Dosu sat quietly atop the head of the Shodaime Hokage. Fireworks just began booming in the sky above the village, signaling the end of tonight's festival.

"Look at them all. They have no idea what's coming tomorrow." Dosu rubbed the cursed seal Kabuto had given him. He had yet to see Zaku since Kabuto and taken him in for more experiments. Furthermore, he hadn't been allowed to work on the so called "secret weapon" that the rest of Otogakure was scrambling to finish even now.

Dosu wasn't sure where he fit in anymore. Was there ever even a purpose for him in this village, or was he just some pawn ready to be disposed of during tomorrow's tournament? Regardless of the answer, Dosu vowed silently to make himself useful.

"My existence isn't for nothing. Tomorrow will determine that beyond a shadow of a doubt."


	23. The Tournament Part 1

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_The Tournament (Part 1)_

* * *

The morning sun was just shining into the Hokage's office, illuminating everything and the three people who sat inside it. The Hokage had called Guy and Kakashi here especially early and to both his and Guy's surprise, even Kakashi had arrived on time for this.

"I assume you know why you're both here." Sarutobi asked as he fiddled with his pipe.

"Yes." Both Jonin responded. They hardly needed any sort of reminder. Today was the day of the tournament…but much more importantly, today was the day their bet would be settled.

"I must admit that I am not surprised it happened this way." The Hokage had a mysterious glint in his eye as he talked now. "Despite this being the first time both your teams ever competed in these exams, they both did exceptionally well. They blew past overwhelming odds and now must face off against each other in one on one combat."

"Yet you say you're not surprised?" Kakashi chuckled.

"Of course he isn't!" Guy bellowed. "He should expect nothing less from the student's of myself and my eternal rival!"

"Naturally, I assume you are both confident that your student's will do well in this tournament, so how do you plan to determine the winner? What if both your teams are knocked out completely in the same set by those Otogakure Shinobi?" Sarutobi tapped his pipe on the desk as he waited for a response.

"Impossible." They both responded together.

The Hokage nodded. "I figured you'd say as much, now call it arrogance, or maybe pride, but I'd have to say I agree with you. That means though that one of your students will win the tournament."

"Not that there was ever any doubt it would have to be that way!" Guy boasted loudly.

Sarutobi smiled. "My point is, I'm willing to add an extra condition for the winner."

Both Jonin suddenly looked very interested. "Extra condition?" Kakashi asked.

Sarutobi nodded. "While it is normally untraditional to do it this way, I will promote the genin that wins this tournament to Chunin. Of both your teams, he or she will be the only one to receive this promotion."

Both Jonin looked at each other for a moment before looking back to the Hokage. "I can't say I object." Kakashi shrugged. "It'd be a pain if I had a couple of them promoted at once anyways."

"I have no problems with this either! Being able to show off my Chunin to Kakashi every day would be a true treat!" Guy laughed loudly.

Sarutobi nodded. "Then it is official. I wish your student's the best of luck today. It's going to be a big one."

"Their flames will burn so intensely that the sun itself will have to turn away!" Guy shouted as he got up. He was out the window not even a second later.

"What a crazy trip it's been to get here." Kakashi mumbled before poofing away.

The Hokage chuckled. He couldn't agree more.

* * *

Dosu stood waiting inside the tunnel that led out to the main arena. The tournament was going to begin soon and he still hadn't seen any sign of Zaku. "Where the hell is he?" The Oto Genin huffed under his breath. He hadn't seen him all month and was really starting to worry that Kabuto had just offed him all together.

"You all alone?" Dosu jumped and spun around. The boy with green-spandex was standing right behind him, staring at him with his big beady eyes.

"What do you want?" Dosu nearly spat.

Lee shrugged. "Nothing really. I just got here myself and am waiting for my team. Looks like you are too."

Dosu narrowed his eyes at the Konoha boy in front of him. Was he taking him for a fool or was he just stupid? Not that it mattered. Dosu wanted nothing to do with him. Suddenly a hand was coming at him and Dosu took a step back in surprise. "What? You want to fight now?" Dosu brought his arm out slowly.

"Fight?" Lee asked curiously. "No, a handshake."

"Wha…?" Dosu couldn't even finish his word he was so surprised.

"You're my first opponent, Dosu-san, right?" Lee clarified. "I want to have a most excellent first showing today."

"What does that have to do with a handshake?" Dosu eyed him suspiciously now.

"Good Sportsmanship of course." Lee smiled happily at him. "It is a way of saying we will both do our best and no hard feelings no matter who wins! That is the power of a handshake."

At first Dosu felt like puking and then refusing the offer…but then he looked at Lee's face again. What he saw surprised him. There was no animosity or deceit in the boy's face…simply good-nature. He really just wanted to wish him luck, something that made Dosu feel like reconsidering.

"A-alright then." Dosu slowly extended his arm and shook Lee's hand. "Good luck." He mumbled.

"Yes! Good luck to you as well!" Lee's smile got even bigger…and it seemed to shine a little too. Dosu found him wondering how he did that. Maybe a light jutsu? But if he remembered right this kid couldn't use ninjutsu.

"Hey, Bushy Brow!" Lee turned as he heard his name. Naruto and Hinata were waving him over excitedly.

"Ah, there is my team! I shall see you in the ring Dosu-san!" Lee gave a cheerful wave before running off to his team.

Dosu didn't return the wave or greeting. Instead he just watched curiously. "Getting comfortable with the natives?" Dosu again almost jumped. He turned around slowly. He recognized that voice. To his annoyance, Kabuto stood right behind him, dressed in an ANBU outfit and holding a cat mask.

"What are you doing here? What about your preparations?" Dosu whispered. Kabuto was cloaked pretty heavily by the low light in the tunnel and Dosu doubted anyone else had seen him yet.

"Everything is all set, and I thought you'd be interested in meeting your old teammate." Kabuto made a gesture for Dosu to turn around again.

Slowly, almost as if afraid to, Dosu did as instructed. To his relief, Zaku stood right there. He looked the same as he always did. "Zaku, you're alright." Dosu released the breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Alright?" Zaku chuckled. "I've never been better!" He patted Dosu on the back rather aggressively and Dosu immediately noticed something off. He was cold…more like freezing actually. Almost like he didn't have any body heat at all.

"So what's going on here?" Dosu slowly backed up and looked between the two. "What's the plan? How are we going to do this?"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." Kabuto shook his head sadly at Dosu. "You haven't figured it out yet?"

"Figured what out yet?" Dosu had a bad feeling about this.

"You're not needed here Dosu. That's what he's saying." Zaku laughed as Dosu looked to his teammate in surprise. "Kabuto-sama has chosen me to carry out his plot this time. You're just leftover garbage that managed to get this far."

"B-but…Kabuto-sama." Dosu turned to where Kabuto had been only to see he was gone now. "Then what am I supposed to do?" He asked in disbelief.

"Whatever the hell you want!" Zaku continued laughing. "Drop out of the tournament if you want. Maybe you can try winning. Not that someone as unnecessary as you will get past the first round."

"Shut up!" Dosu suddenly grabbed Zaku by the collar and slammed the back of his head against the wall. A loud metal ting noise rang across the tunnel that caused Dosu to immediately let up. "Zaku…what's happened to you?" Dosu asked in disbelief. "Did you forget who saved your ass in the forest? I'm your teammate." Try as he could, Dosu couldn't bring himself to be mad here.

"Not anymore. Kabuto-sama has made me strong. To me, you're nothing more than trash." Zaku turned and walked away. Dosu wasn't able to do anything but sit there in shock. Slowly the anger began building up in him and he felt the curse seal Kabuto had injected him with begin to stir.

"I'll win this tournament. I'll show them all that they're wrong." Dosu remembered the words he had said last night. "My existence isn't for nothing."

Up in the stands, a whole massive crowd was beginning to pour in. "Where should we sit?" Haku asked the group he was with.

"Anywhere is fine so long as we can see them kick some ass!" Ayame said as she took a couple steps down. Temari just shrugged and silently followed after both of them.

"Oh! Haku-san, over here!" Haku turned as he heard his name. To his surprise, he saw the old bridge-builder Tazuna and his family.

"Tazuna-san!" Haku greeted as he walked up to them. "It's good to see you. We have hardly talked since the mission."

"You bet! I've been super busy with work! Would you believe that before Konoha used to rely on Genin to do all their construction? Those punk brats didn't know a thing that they were doing! Good thing I came when I did or this village might as well have collapsed!" Tazuna waved his arms around excited as he talked.

"Dad, quit bragging." Tsunami smiled apologetically at the group.

"I'm not bragging just about myself though!" Tazuna pouted. "Inari's been helping plenty too. Why pretty soon, he'll be just as good as me! Ain't that right Inari?"

The small boy in question blushed at the unexpected attention and nodded a couple times.

"So tell me, who are your lady friends?" Tazuna nudged Haku gently. "I never would have taken you for a lady-killer myself, what with you looking so feminine and all, but maybe some girls like that."

"As if it's like that!" Temari huffed and looked away in embarrassment. "I only came because he invited me, it's not like I had anything better to do."

"This is Temari-san." Haku pointed to the former Sunagakure genin. "She is just a friend. Ayame-san here is actually Lee-san's girlfriend."

"What, that kid got a girlfriend?" Tazuna shouted as he stood up. "And someone older than him! This is outrageous! Konoha has some amazing things! Why I bet I could even hook up at my age!" Tazuna broke out into a loud laughter.

"Dad! Shut up!" A furious fist buried itself into Tazuna's head. The man sunk to his seat, unconscious. "Would you children care to join us? Please don't pay any attention to the old pervert sitting here." Tsunami smiled sweetly at the group.

"Heh, I like you, Tsunami-san." Ayame said as she walked over. "I've heard about you briefly from Lee when he was talking about his mission, it's great to meet you."

Haku smiled as the two girls began talking. No surprise they got off well. "Hurry up and sit. The contestants are starting to file out." Haku looked down and saw a single file line of the participating genin walking out into the area.

"Hurry up." Temari repeated.

"Right, sorry."

Elsewhere in the crowd, another group talked excitedly from their seats as they watched the teams walk out. "There's Sasuke-kun!" Ino shouted in joy at seeing the raven-haired Uchiha walk into the arena.

"Is that all you ever notice?" Shikamaru shook his head in disbelief at his teammate. "How about taking notice of the guy who saved our lives in the forest?"

Ino sighed. "Go Lee…" She mumbled while waving her arm dully.

Kiba laughed at Ino's clear lack of enthusiasm. "She'll come around. Naruto will clean Sasuke's clock when they fight."

Ino scoffed. "As if. I don't care how strong he's got, he's a long way away from beating Sasuke. Tell him Sakura."

Sakura opened her mouth but no noise came out. She snapped it shut and opened it back up. She still wasn't able to say anything.

"Are you serious?" Ino shrieked. She was blown away by this revelation.

Shino pushed his glasses up. "It is only logical to assume Naruto-san could defeat Sasuke-san in combat. After all, he defeated an opponent that our whole team combined could not."

"Yeah, yeah." Ino shook her head. "I'll root for him the whole way! Go Sasuke-kun!"

Everyone else could only sigh.

Kakashi and Guy stood in the far back of the crowd where there were no seats. "Look at them! They look ready to show the world what they are made of!" Guy shouted passionately.

Kakashi nodded. "I hope you're ready to give up that spandex."

"Heh, it is you should be ready to show me your face!" Sparks flew between the Jonin's eyes as they glared at each other.

The Hokage sat at the very top of the stadium with his usual pipe missing. He couldn't be smoking at a time like this. It was too grand an event. It would be time for him to begin his speech in a moment. He turned and looked at his one guard, Yamato who stood looking diligent. "Relax, boy." The Hokage laughed.

"I cannot do that sir. What if someone attempts something?" Yamato continued to stand rigid.

"Who would possibly attempt something here?" A third voice said. Both Yamato and Sarutobi turned to see Kabuto walking slowly towards the two of them.

"You...what are you doing here?" Yamato took a threatening step forward.

Kabuto chuckled as he adjusted his glasses. "Surely you've figured out that I'm the current leader of Otogakure. I just came to watch my remaining contestants fight."

"I highly doubt that." Yamato sneered as he took another step forward.

"Yamato, that's enough." Sarutobi said sternly. Yamato backed off but his glare remained present. "You are welcome to watch this tournament, but know this, the moment you try something, you will be fighting for your life."

Kabuto chuckled again. "I wouldn't dream of it."

Sarutobi looked at him quietly for a few moments before he got up and walked to the side of the railing.

"The time to begin this tournament has begun."

As the Hokage talked to the audience, Hayate looked over the group of Genin standing there in front of him. He gave a nasty cough before pulling out a piece of paper. "There has been a slight change to the line-up." He unfolded the paper and held it out for everyone to see. "Look it over and make sure you know when you're fighting."

Everyone looked it over and no one was surprised by the change. Kin had been removed from the roster.

"The first round is Hyuuga Neji vs Abumi Zaku."

"The second round is Tenten vs Hyuuga Hinata."

"The third round is Kinuta Dosu vs Rock Lee."

"The fourth and final round is Uchiha Sasuke vs Uzumaki Naruto."

Hayate had coughed between each set of names he read. "The winner of each round will progress to the next. If I call your name to come fight and you are not here in five minutes, you are disqualified." Hayate coughed some more. "The rules are simple. There are none. The fight ends if you are no longer able to fight, dead, or I've declared a winner. There are no exceptions when I make a call. While death does occur it is best to avoid it if possible."

He gave one more nasty fit of coughing. "Does everyone understand?"

All eight Genin nodded. Just as they did, the Hokage gave his closing words. "Everyone except Neji and Zaku, go up those stairs. The first round will begin in five minutes."

The other genin all ambled away quickly. They wanted to reach the top fast so they wouldn't miss any of the fight.

Neji and Zaku, who had been standing almost on completely opposite ends turned to face each other. "If either of you have anything to say, now is the time to say it." Hayate looked at both boys.

Neji shook his head.

Zaku let out a small laugh. "Yeah, I got something to say. You snide bastard there, get ready to be annihilated!"

Neji scoffed but still didn't meet Zaku's eyes. "The louder the dogs bark, the weaker it's bite."

Zaku scowled. "The hell you say to me? I'll make you eat those words! I fought that other Hyuuga in the forest so I know everything you can do! It won't work against me anymore!"

This time Neji actually looked at Zaku. "You learned nothing about the clan's techniques fighting a weakling like that. I'll show you our full power."

Zaku continued to laugh. "Bring it."

"I take it you're both ready?" Hayate continued to cough as he raised his hand into the air.

Both Genin nodded as they glared at each other with the intent to kill. "Then, let the first fight of Konoha's Chunin Exam Tournament…" Hayate shouted loud enough for all of the audience to hear.

Everywhere there had been constant chattering but it instantly fell silent. Kabuto smirked from up where he was. The Hyuuga clan watched with a special interest from their reserved spot in the crowd. The other genin had just made it into their box and waited quietly like the rest. Dosu was still shaking in anger at being betrayed but he was also curious. How much stronger had Zaku gotten?

"…Begin!" Hayate dropped his hand.

"Game over!" Zaku raised his palms so they were straight forward. The two tubes in his hands were still there, but instead of blasts of air, fire shot from them.

Neji didn't bother responding to Zaku's delusion of such an early victory. Instead he immediately ran to the right.

"Where you going? Show me that clan's _true_ ability!" Zaku cackled loudly as he aimed the fire after him.

"You sure are annoying." Neji grumbled. He continued to just run, in a circular motion around Zaku.

The Otogakure Genin didn't take a step in any direction; he just turned slowly as he followed after Neji. "You know what? This already bores me." Zaku stopped spraying fire. Neji in turn stopped running but he didn't charge forward either. "So you're one of those types of people, huh? You won't attack until you think you know every single trick I have! Well you're going to be waiting a long time cause I've got a lot of 'em!"

Zaku rose his arms up into firing position again but this time aimed them to his left and right. He slowly began spinning again, this time without releasing anything.

"What the…" Neji had been fighting up to this point without his Byakugan but he felt the need to use them had just occurred. It was because while Zaku was indeed spinning it was only his upper body that was. His legs were completely stationary.

What Neji saw with his Byakugan surprised him completely. "You…you're almost completely metallic."

"That's right!" Zaku roared with laughter as his rotation picked up speed. He was just a blur in a matter of moments. "Fire Tornado!" Zaku fired off his arm cannons and combined with his the velocity of his spin, the attack lived up to its name.

"Tch, damn." Neji cursed as he began forming seals. Just as the fire completely engulfed him he slammed his hands on the ground.

"Neji!" Tenten shouted from their box. Despite the fact she had been mad at him lately, she still didn't want to see him get hurt.

"He's alright." Sasuke reassured her. His Sharingan was active as he watched the battle. "Apparently he's been learning some new techniques."

The smoke from the flames slowly started to clear. The once grassy arena was already completed darkened and it was only just a couple moves into the first battle. "You still alive? Huh, you cocky bastard?" Zaku laughed maniacally as he stumbled through the smoky terrain.

"You're the cocky one." Zaku turned to his left too late. Neji was right there, his palms flying forward. His Jyuuken strikes connected in Zaku's ribcage and in his cranium.

"Gah!" Zaku yelled as he stumbled sideways and fell over. "Ah, it hurts you bastard! My insides!" Neji sensed something was wrong and took a quick step back. He did just in time. A long blade slid out of the bottom of Zaku's foot and the boy swung a deadly leg sweep right where his feet had just been.

"Just kidding…" The blade retracted back into Zaku's body and he got back up. "Your gentle fist is useless here." Neji's ever present scowl deepened. "You must be wondering how that's possible. I'll tell you."

Neji didn't wait for Zaku to finish talking. He took out a couple of shuriken and whipped them with all his might at his opponent. "Just as pointless." Zaku smilled as the shuriken bounced off of his body with a bunch of loud clinks. "You see, you were almost right when you said my body was almost all metallic."

Neji's eyes widened. "You can't possibly mean…"

Zaku's mouth curled into a bizarre smile. "That's right! I'm completely made of metal! You must have assumed that this was some kind of armor that prevented you from seeing my body but you're wrong! It is my body!"

Neji slowly slid out of his Jyuuken stance. "So the reason my attack didn't work wasn't because you're armor was too thick…but because you don't have any insides to attack."

"Bingo!" Zaku clapped excited. "Now your prize for getting it right! I'll grant you a quick death." Zaku brought one of his arms back up and fired, wind shot out this time instead of fire. "Darn…looks like I'm out of fire."

Neji ducked just in time and sprinted back to where he had been before. "Ah, I see now." With the smoke gone, a wall of earth that hadn't been visible before stood at about Neji's height. "You used a mud wall to shield yourself from the blast. I didn't think Hyuuga used too many ninjutsu?"

Neji didn't answer as he disappeared back behind the wall. "What? Hiding to think up a strategy? It won't work! I'll show you exactly what you're up against so watch closely!" Zaku stood straight and then a small quiet hissing began. Slowly, his torso opened up.

"What the hell is with this guy?" The sight made Ayame want to throw up.

"Are those all…" Tazuna whispered in awe at what he saw.

Haku nodded. "He's got at least a few dozen kunai, and it looks like they're ready to be launched. Worse yet, I think I see exploding tags."

What Haku said was exactly right. Zaku's insides was a network of kunai ready to be fired off. "I hope you like this!" Zaku laughed as the kunai began firing from his stomach like they were being launched out of a machine gun.

The kunai battered Neji's mud wall continuously before the first one set off, causing the others to do the same in a massive chain reaction. A massive explosion quickly created a crater in that part of the arena, cracking parts of the wall and sending the front row of the audience running.

Zaku was laughing even louder than before. "How awesome is this! My body is incredible! Do you see it Dosu?" Zaku turned and looked at the Genin box to meet Dosu's eyes. "This is why you are no longer needed! This is why I'm going to win this tournament!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it." Zaku spun around in surprise. Neji was a few paces back, bringing his fist up.

"Interesting…" Zaku laughed. "But you can't hurt me, so-" He never finished that sentence as Neji's fist slammed into his face, cracking it slightly and sending Zaku flying. The metallic boy hit the ground and bounced before he skid to a stop. "Im-impossible." Zaku felt his face. His cheek was caved in slightly and his jaw felt like it had shifted slightly to the left.

"What did you do?" Zaku roared in anger as he turned back. He got his answer instantly. Neji's arm up to his elbow was covered in a thick, jagged rock. "More Earth Jutsu, eh? Well, let's see your earth jutsu deal with this!" Zaku opened his mouth wide. A metal spike on the end of a metal coil sprang forward and launched itself towards the Hyuuga genius.

"You're techniques always continue to disgust me." Neji shook his head as the coil landed to his left.

"Say that after I clobber you!" Zaku's voice came out perfectly despite the fact he wasn't able to move his mouth. The coil began retracting and his body was pulled forward and through the air at an incredible speed. Blades came out not only from both the bottom of his feet but his elbows, shoulders, and knees too.

"You're pathetic." Neji sighed and rubbed his free hand threw his hair.

"Say it again!" Zaku shouted as he was just a split second from coming into contact with Neji. Before he could strike, Zaku felt his stomach gave in. A second later and his right arm bent at a comptely odd angle and his right leg twisted around. "H-how?" Zaku could only ask as his coil pulled him the rest of the way. His face slammed into the ground as his mouth attempted to completely take the coil back in. After a few seconds of struggling, Zaku got his face free and managed to turn an enrage glare at Neji.

"You're not screaming in pain." Neji observed. "You can't feel anything, can you? How pathetic."

"You shut the hell up!" Zaku attempted to stand but stumbled down. Black liquid was pouring from several areas of his body. "What the hell did you do to me? I didn't even see you move!"

"You were looking at the wrong places at the wrong time. That's all." Neji said simply.

"Bullshit! I had you in my sight right up until the last second!" Zaku was finally able to stand up now.

"You saw the past me up until the last second. The same me you are seeing now." Neji had an all-knowing smirk as he talked down to the battered mechanized Shinobi.

"What the hell are you saying? You're not making sense!" Zaku screamed at the top of his lungs.

Up in the crowd Chouji was giving his teammates a weird look. "What's wrong with him? Doesn't it seem like everything he does seem kind of…delayed?"

"It's a genjutsu." Shino answered for him.

"A genjutsu? What kind?" Ino asked curiously.

Shikamaru tapped his chin a couple of times as he thought. "A time delay. Neji delayed his time by a couple of seconds."

Shino nodded at his theory. "I'd say by two seconds judging by how long Zaku-san takes to respond."

"Two seconds, is that really that good? I mean, that sounds so short." Kiba mumbled as he turned back to the arena. Zaku was still screaming pointless obscenities.

"Two seconds was more than enough for Neji to completely cripple him. In fact, I bet Neji did it when he ran behind the wall. That's why this kid has been so off since then." Shikamaru leaned back in his seat. "Leave it to Lee's eternal rival to have a trick like that up his sleeve."

Back on the arena Hayate slowly walked forward. "I think that's enough here. I officially declare-"

"What the hell do you think you're doing? I ain't done yet!" Zaku turned as he yelled at the proctor. I can still fight easily. Zaku took a step forward but when he tried with his other leg he fell over completely.

"It's pointless." Neji said as he stared down at his beaten opponent. "Since you can't feel pain you assume you can walk normally, but in reality that is impossible. You can't fight while you have to actively think about your injuries."

"Don't you look down on me." Zaku pressed his hands and the ground and began to lift himself up. He got up to his elbows when a loud grating noise occurred, seconds later and his right arm completely detached itself. Zaku tumbled back to the ground and his arm lay uselessly next to him. Sparks were flying from where it had broken off and more of the black liquid began to pool under him.

"I'm done here. Proctor, end it." Neji shook his head and began to walk away.

"I said I ain't done yet!" Zaku roared as he opened his mouth. The metal spike shot forward again and struck just in front of Neji's feet.

"What are you going to do? Trip me?" Neji jeered.

"Just keep thinking you're funny when you're dead!" Zaku began retracting the coil and his body rolled across the ground and at Neji at high speeds. His body began glowing yellow just before he reached him.

"Wha-"

"Say goodbye asshole!" Zaku laughed as he exploded, catching Neji in the blast.

"Neji!" Tenten screamed again.

"Did he just self-destruct?" Naruto asked in horror.

Lee could only nod dumbly.

"What the hell is going on?" Dosu mumbled quietly. What had all that talk been about? He had been crushed completely. In the end the only thing he did was take some kid with him. Had Kabuto secretly betrayed both of them?

"No way…" Hinata whispered, her Byakugan active.

"What? Is Neji okay?" Tenten ran up to Hinata and shook her. Hinata slowly brought her finger up and pointed it at the smoke that was beginning to clear.

Over with the rest of the Hyuuga, Hiashi was standing on his feet with his mouth wide open. He wasn't alone either. Many Hyuuga looked surprised at the sight that was before them. Even Hanabi who was so young, knew something wasn't right. "When did he…learn that?"

When the smoke cleared, a giant spinning orb was revealed in Neji's place. The orb slowly began losing its speed and Neji became visible. In a few more seconds he quit spinning all together. "What a waste." Neji turned to the proctor. "Don't you have something to say?"

Hayate blinked a couple of times. "Oh, right." He coughed once before looking to the audience. "The winner is Hyuuga Neji." The crowd was silent. That had been the most bizarre fight many of them had ever seen. Slowly though, the clapping began and soon the whole crowd was cheering madly.

"Now that was a fight!" Someone in front of Haku said.

"Yeah I know! That freak didn't stand a chance against my Neji though! I have him picked to take this whole thing home you know?" Another person said.

"Talk about a nasty start." Haku crossed his arms as he looked at the already ripped apart arena.

"The grass has been burned away and there are two craters already." Temari observed. "However, those trees on the outskirts seem to be safe."

"They were just outside that tornado's range." Haku nodded as he talked.

"Still though, Konoha is full of impressive Genin. I really thought that mecha-kid had it." Temari leaned back in her seat and stretched her arms as she spoke.

Haku shook his head. "I knew Neji-san wouldn't lose. I haven't met him but he is Lee-san's eternal rival. There's no way he'd lose here."

"What the hell does that even mean?"

The Hokage looked at Kabuto curiously out of the corner of his eye."Was that boy's body your doing?"

Kabuto smirked as he stared down at the arena still. The sun reflected off his glasses, making it impossible to see his eyes. "You could say that. Made for quite the interesting show, don't you think?"

The Hokage didn't bother responding. Instead he looked back to the arena as well. Hayate was about to call the next two names.

"Will the next to contestants, Tenten and Hyuuga Hinata, please make your way down to the arena, please!" The proctor's call got the crowd talking about the next match now.

"Who do you think is going to win this one?" Chouji looked at Shikamaru.

"I don't know a lot about that Tenten girl but I know she's the one who taught Hinata archery. With my current information I would have to place my bet on Hinata."

"I will have to disagree with you, Shikamaru-san." Shino leaned forward in his seat. "Tenten-san is well known as a master of all weapons. The range and versatility is bound to give her an advantage."

"I'm with Shino on this one!" Ino shouted. "She's on Sasuke-kun's team after all."

Kiba shook his head. "I don't know. If she has been working out like Naruto, I wouldn't underestimate her."

"Well, we'll find out in a few minutes." Shikamaru scratched his head as he looked to the box the genin contestants were in.

Tenten took a couple deep breaths before she vaulted the railing and flew towards the arena floor. She landed in front of the stairs that led up just as Neji got there. "Good going, Neji." Tenten said, attempting to talk for the first time in awhile.

Neji walked right past her before stopping. "Do your best, Tenten." He then continued walking.

Tenten gave a short nod. "You know it!"

A second later and Hinata landed right next to Tenten. "Ready?" The older girl asked as she turned to her archery partner.

Hinata nodded. "Yes." She then forced a smile at her friend. "It's going to be hard to fight you, Tenten-senpai."

"Come on, you just said you were ready!" Tenten shoved Hinata's shoulder lightly as she laughed. "We're the only two Kunoichi to make it this far. We have to show everyone else that we're not messing around. We can be just as good as the guys." As Tenten talked, both girls were walking to the center of the ring. "That means hold absolutely nothing back. This is our chance."

Hinata nodded again. "I'll do my best Tenten-senpai. I hope we can continue to train together when this is all over." Hinata stopped walking, they were in the center.

Tenten smiled and began walking backwards "Of course we can! No matter what the outcome, we already agreed last night that we'd remain friends!" Tenten stopped after having moved about ten paces.

Hayate glanced at both girls briefly. "Are you both ready?" They both nodded. Hayate raised his arm above his head and shouted loud enough for the crowd. "Let the second match…"

"No matter what, one of us is pulling ahead here. You ready, Kakashi?" Guy smiled confidently at his rival.

"Hmm? You say something?"

"Damn you! Care a little!"

"…begin!" Hayate dropped his hand and immediately jumped backwards to avoid possibly getting caught in the crossfire.

He needn't have bothered though. Neither girl made a move at each other right away. Hinata simply activated her Byakugan and slipped into her stance. Tenten pulled out two scrolls and held them in front of her. If Hinata was surprised by the sight of both scrolls, she didn't show it.

"You intend to show them your flashiest move right off the start, Senpai?" Hinata hadn't ever actually seen the move but Lee had described it to her before.

"Of course!" Tenten gave a bright smile as she set the scrolls on the ground. "I told you, I intend to show everyone what Kunoichi can do." She ran through a set of seals. "Soshoryu!"

White smoke quickly covered Tenten and two smoky dragons rose to the sky, spinning around each other as they went up. Tenten burst from the spoke and seemed to hang suspended in the middle of the two dragons. The smoke faded to reveal both her scrolls had completely unfolded. "I hope you're ready, Hinata!" Tenten reached her hand towards one scroll and a kunai appeared. She reached her other hand forward and a kama appeared. She threw both of them.

Hinata stepped nimbly to the side and then back. Both weapons planted harmlessly into the ground. She quickly took another side-step and this time avoided a set of shuriken. Next she dodged a spear as it planted into the ground. Soon, Tenten was throwing all kinds of exotic weapons faster than the eye could see.

"Kaiten." Hinata whispered as she relented to the overwhelming assault and began spinning. All the weapons began bouncing off of her shield and plopped to the ground pointlessly.

Tenten smirked as she threw the last of her weapons. "I was wondering when you would do that!" Hinata's spinning came to a stop. As she did, her bow and quiver were revealed. She already had an arrow ready to fire.

"You're all out, Senpai!" Hinata pointed the weapon at her and fired it. Tenten had no chance of dodging in midair.

"That's where you're wrong." Tenten's smirk got bigger as she moved her fingers around. Hinata's arrow stopped in midair. Hinata didn't have to look hard to see Tenten had just connected chakra wires to all of her previously thrown weapons and had just entangled the arrow she fired in them. "Now let's see you block all those again!" Tenten pulled her arms back and all the weapons began to lift.

"Kaiten!" Hinata began spinning immediate but her progress halted before she could get going fast at all. "Darn it!" Hinata realized too late that Tenten had set the weapons around her just right. When she pulled the weapons up she had the strings positioned in a way that snared her the moment she started to spin.

"Ready to give up?" Tenten laughed as her weapons hung menacingly above Hinata. "Of course the proctor might consider ending this even if you don't want to."

It was Hinata's turn to smirk. "Only if he's as unobservant as you are." A second later and Hinata vanished in a poof of smoke.

"No way!" Tenten shouted in surprise. "When did you have time to use the Shadow Clone Jutsu?"

One of the kunai that Tenten had attached to her strings poofed in smoke and Hinata was revealed. "Right at the moment you least expected!" Hinata grabbed a hold of the wire and channeled chakra into it.

"Like I'd let you pump chakra right into my system!" Tenten immediately disconnected all her wires. All the weapons that were suspended in the air fell to the ground along with Hinata. "That was a good strategy though." Tenten complimented as she followed after them. She landed nimbly on her feet and the two scrolls fell around her.

Hinata picked up her bow and quiver that the clone had dropped when it vanished. "Thank you. I barely had time to pull it off."

Ino let out a yell of frustration. "Wait! What the hell just happened down there! One second she was there and then wasn't and then Tenten just dropped all her weapons for no reason!"

Shikamaru sighed at his teammates confusion. "I'll explain. Hinata created a Shadow Clone while the Kaiten was still blocking our view. She then henged into a kunai and waited for Tenten to connect her chakra wires to all the weapons. The clone simply stayed out in the open as bait."

"Okay, okay." Ino nodded but he was still very clearly lost. "But why did she disconnect the wires and drop her weapons?"

"Hinata would have channeled her chakra through the wire and could have attacked Tenten-san that way. It is just another way she is capable of using her Jyuuken." Shikamaru explained before turning away, apparently deciding it was too troublesome to explain any more.

"I didn't know Hinata could do stuff like that." Ino suddenly looked worried for Tenten. She had placed her bet on her after all.

"Regardless of the outcome, Tenten-san has given herself a huge field advantage with her opening attack." Shino said as he eyed the area that was completely littered with all kinds of weapons.

"How do you figure?" Sakura looked at her stoic teammate.

"You'll see in a minute. They're moving."

The closest weapon to Tenten was a spear that was sticking out of the ground. She picked it up and spun it around a couple times, testing its weight. "Alright!" She seemed satisfied and without missing another beat she charged forward.

Hinata fired an arrow. Tenten swung the spear around and knocked it aside. Hinata fired another and Tenten again deflected it. "You won't beat me with weapons, Hinata! You should know that!"

Hinata threw her bow to the side and slipped into her stance, the quiver still on her back. Tenten thrust the spear forward. Hinata stepped sideways and then moved in, swinging her palm forward. Tenten spun the spear around her back and held the poll in front of herself, stopping Hinata's palm far enough away to be safe from her Jyuuken.

"I already know to fight you at a range with weapons Hinata! I've trained with a Hyuuga for more than a year!" Tenten shoved forward, knocking Hinata off balance. Tenten spun the spear around and couple more times before she brought it down over the top of her head.

"That doesn't mean you know everything!" Hinata pulled an arrow out of her quiver and swung it up. "I've been a Hyuuga all my life!" The arrow struck just below the spearhead and her arrow snapped it right in two. Tenten's spear was now nothing more than just a staff.

"Tch, damn!" Tenten stumbled forward from the unexpected shift in weight. Hinata didn't waste the opportunity to press on the attack and unleash another Jyuuken palm.

Thinking fast, Tenten grabbed one of the nearest weapons on the floor, her kusarigama. She picked up the weighted end but that didn't matter, she needed the chain. Tenten pulled the weapon up and held it right in front of Hinata's palm, effectively stopping the strike so she was safe from the nerve attack again.

Having got a firm footing now, Tenten pumped chakra into her feet and immediately put more distance between herself and Hinata. "I won't let you get away this time." Hinata reached down and pulled two latches. The weights she wore around her legs tumbled off. Hinata was after Tenten faster than she was able to escape.

"You're the one who's going to need to escape." Tenten grabbed onto a giant ring that was a sharp blade on the outside edges. It looked like a giant, deadly hula hoop. Tenten stepped so she was on the inside of the weapon. "I hope you're ready!" She ran forward to meet Hinata's charge.

"You may be able to use whatever weapon you pick up with ease Senpai, but that weapon won't help you now that my weights are off." Hinata jumped and landed on top of the ring as Tenten swung it.

"Not bad!" Tenten praised as she flipped the other end backwards, forcing the end Hinata was on upwards. Hinata back flipped and landed on her feet. Tenten flipped the weapon so she was outside it and swung it around in a wide arc. Hinata ducked down. Tenten brought it around again, this time aiming low. Hinata jumped over it this time.

"Now take this!" Tenten took a step backwards and whirled the ring blade while it was on its side. The blade rolled on the ground at an incredible speed like it was a tire. Hinata rolled out of the way and charged forward again.

Tenten picked up a katana that was right next to her and used the hilt to deflect Hinata's latest Jyuuken. "You can't stay outside of my range forever, Senpai!" Hinata delivered a powerful spinning kick.

"I can try!" Tenten bent backwards to dodge the kick. She hated to admit it, but that extra training Kakashi had made her do was the only thing that allowed her to keep up with Hinata's increased speed. "You should look behind you, by the way." The ring blade Tenten had thrown had circled around and was just about to come back.

"I already know." Hinata jumped to the side at the last second, the blade was now inches away from running into Tenten.

"Smart." Tenten cursed and held her katana in front of her. The ring blade hit the katana and the ring was deflected but her katana was also knocked from her grip. She immediately grabbed the next weapon lying on the ground. A pair of tonfa.

Temari snorted as she watched. "This is stupid. She's just picking up whatever weapon she can and hoping it will work. That Hyuuga girl is going to win at this rate."

Haku shook his head. "You're partially right, but Tenten-san is more incredible than you seem to think." Temari gave Haku a doubtful glance. "I'm serious; did you see when she picked up that katana? Her form was flawless. I would have thought she was raised fighting by the way of the sword. Yet now she is using all these other weapons with just as equal a skill."

"She's a genius."

Temari turned back to the arena. Tenten was effectively holding off Hinata's strikes with the tonfa and seemed to even be pushing back slightly too. "If I didn't know you were such a perfectionist I would doubt what you said about her form being flawless. All the same, that just makes that Hyuuga girl incredible, being able to withstand a barrage of all these weapons." Just as she said that, Hinata shattered both tonfa with her elbows.

Haku nodded exaggeratedly. "Of course. I never said Hinata-san would lose." He then noticed Hinata tense up. "Although, she looks surprised by Tenten-san's newest weapons."

Hinata watched anxiously as Tenten flexed her fingers that were now through a pair of chakra knives. "Where did you get those?"

Tenten smiled as she inspected the way they looked on her hand. "Just a gift from my sensei, nice, aren't they?" Tenten pumped some chakra into the blades and stepped forward while swinging them.

Hinata stepped backwards and dodged a couple swings. She didn't dare counter-attack until she knew Tenten's elemental affinity. "You're suddenly much more defensive!" Tenten didn't miss Hinata's change in tactics.

"Don't talk like you don't know why." Hinata pulled out a couple shuriken. She jumped backwards and swung them with all her might.

"It's not like I'm trying to hide it." Tenten swung at all the shuriken. They all split in half on contact.

"Is it also wind?" Hinata asked in disbelief. She studied the shuriken a little closer and noticed that it looked like they had been melted. "No…it's fire."

"Right on!" Tenten held her weapons up a little higher. Hinata could now see that they were glowing bright red.

Hinata sighed. "If that's the case, I know just the way to stop them." She reached into her own pouch and pulled out two of her own chakra blades.

"You have some too?" Tenten couldn't believe her eyes.

"Naruto-kun lent them to me before my battle began." Hinata verified as she slipped the blades around her fingers.

"Well I hope for your sake that your affinity is water! Cause if it isn't, I'm about to seer right through them!" Tenten charged forward.

"You're forgetting something important." Hinata ran forward as well.

"And what's that?" Tenten swung her right arm forward.

Hinata mimicked the action. "I have a Kekkei Genkai."

Their blades connected and made a loud clang but other than that, nothing else happened. "W-what's going on?" Tenten asked in surprise.

"My blade reacts differently to my chakra because of my Kekkei Genkai." Hinata explained. "At first we couldn't figure out what its ability was but after we thought about it, it started to make sense."

"It sure doesn't make any sense to me!" Tenten pulled her blade back and jumped backwards. "What just happened? My blade isn't getting hot anymore!"

"When you think about what my eyes let me do, it starts to make sense." Hinata kept talking calmly. "As a Hyuuga I can attack your chakra directly and shut you down. That's normally impossible to do to weapons that channel chakra though."

Tenten's eyes widened. "So your blade shut down my blade's ability to channel chakra?"

Hinata nodded. "Your blade is just an ordinary combat knife now."

The chakra blade in Tenten's right hand slipped from her fingers and fell to the ground. She gripped her other one tightly. It got so hot that steam was rolling off of it now. "Don't think that means I'm going to give up! Your blade's only ability is taking the abilities of others! It might as well be normal too!" Tenten threw the blade she was holding. It sunk into the ground just in front of Hinata's feet.

"I never said anything about giving up." Hinata shook her head. Suddenly, the blade at her feet started whistling loudly.

"By the way." Tenten smiled now. "I probably should have mentioned that with the fire affinity, the blade explodes if I pump too much chakra into it and then let go."

"Crap!" Hinata didn't get a chance to say anything more as she was engulfed in an explosion.

Tenten didn't waste another moment. She was running through the weapons, looking for something in particular. "Where are they?" She knew Hinata had time to active the rotation and would be after her in just a few moments. As predicted, she heard Hinata's footsteps just seconds after the explosion. "Here!" Tenten found what she was looking for and scooped it up.

"I won't give you the chance to use another weapon!" Hinata shouted, she lunged forward at full speed and managed to spear Tenten right in the ribs with a full Jyuuken strike.

"Gah!" Tenten gave a cough of blood and dropped two small balls. They hit the ground and then popped. Black smoke poured out of them, engulfing the two.

"Yeah! Go Hinata!" Naruto had been cheering the whole time but his vigor was renewed now that Hinata had landed a good shot. "Tenten really messed up grabbing those smoke bombs! Hinata can see through the smoke like it's not even there!"

Sasuke shook his head. "You're thinking about it the wrong way, Naruto."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Sasuke didn't answer. He was watching the arena intently. Naruto turned back and saw that both Hinata and Tenten had broken free from the smoke and were continuing their battle.

Tenten grabbed the katana she had dropped earlier. She turned to Hinata and swung the sword. Hinata stepped to the side and delivered a spinning kick. Tenten blocked with her swords broad side but then cringed. Hinata's previous strike continued to sting.

That cringe cost Tenten. Hinata stepped in and landed another strike, right in her upper shoulder. Tenten yelped in pain and the katana she was holding slipped from her grasp. Hinata struck again, but this time Tenten blocked with her forearms. The force of the blow sent her flying backwards and she landed painfully on her back, coughing up more blood as she did.

"This fight ends now, Senpai!" Hinata intended to give the finishing blow.

Tenten sat up and wiped away the blood from her lip. When her hand finished passing through, it revealed a smile on her face. "For you it does."

"What?" It was then that Hinata felt it. She was numb all over. How did she not notice this before? "What did you do?" Hinata was starting to have a hard time standing properly.

"Those smoke bombs had a paralysis poison mixed in." Tenten explained as she stood up. She grabbed a bo-staff that had been lying right next to her as she did.

"But you stood in it too!" Hinata protested. "Why aren't you affected?" Tenten held up an empty needle. "That's…" Hinata finally realized her mistake.

"The antidote." Tenten verified. "You assumed that I grabbed the smoke bombs when I was looking around all my weapons. The truth is I grabbed this."

Hinata wasn't sure how much time she had until the poison took full effect but now that she had the facts she didn't have a second to lose. She ran forward again but even she noticed how much slower her movements were already. Even though Tenten had just gotten struck by several Jyuuken blows, she was still faster than Hinata who had the poison seeping through her body.

Tenten swung the staff around expertly. "The poison normally takes four minutes for it to reach maximum effect. I'd say you have about half that time left before you're completely immobile." She delfected Hinata's strike to the left and then swung the staff high. With a loud clap, it connected with Hinata's forehead and sent her straight to the ground.

"Damn." Hinata held her head gingerly as she stumbled back to her feet.

"Doesn't feel too good does it?" Tenten swung the poll around and caught Hinata right in the ribs. Hinata fell back to her knees and leaned on the ground with one hand. "Be thankful I'm using this staff. You would really die if I used something with a blade."

"Thanks for your consideration." Hinata tried sounding sarcastic, but it just didn't work with her. She got back to her feet and was horrified to realize she could barely even walk anymore. Her movements were even more sluggish than before. She settled into her Jyuuken stance and attempted to run forward but she could normally walk faster than she was running now.

"You're not really serious about fighting like that, are you?" Tenten stepped out of the way of Hinata's slow thrust. Hinata turned and attempted to strike again but Tenten swung the staff low, tripping Hinata and sending her tumbling to the ground again.

Hinata groaned as she lay on her back. She then rolled onto her stomach and attempted to lift herself back up. She got only a couple of inches before she felt her body lock up entirely. "N-no…" Hinata slid back down completely and lay still.

Tenten bounced the staff lightly on her shoulders. "Looks like this is my win." The crowd was already screaming excitedly at the conclusion to the match. Tenten turned around and started waving excitedly.

Meanwhile, Hinata's mind was in overload, screaming internally at herself. She had spent countless hours' everyday training. After years of being looked at as a failure this was finally her chance to show the whole village that she wasn't the same girl she had been. The girl who gave up and quit every time there was even the slightest setback.

Hayate slowly walked up and looked down at Hinata. "I declare the winner of this match…" Hayate suddenly started coughing. He began coughing so bad that he doubled over and spit went flying.

"Hinata!" The Hyuuga heiress tilted her head upwards in surprise. Naruto was looking down, screaming at the top of his lungs. "Get up, Hinata! Not for me, but for yourself!"

Hinata looked at him in surprise. Every time she had felt down, she had thought of him. He was her strength, her guiding light. Now he was again cheering her on. He believed in her. Hinata wanted to laugh. After everything, she still didn't believe in herself. She was laying here because there had always been doubt. There was going to be no more of that though. She would stand on her own two feet from now on. She would win this yet…for herself.

She used her Byakugan to look not outwards, but within herself and at her own organs. She found the poison that was floating within her system and by pumping chakra into the areas where the poison was she began to drain it out. It wasn't a lot, but she should at least be able to move now.

"I'm not done yet…" Hinata placed both her hands back on the ground. She let out a grunt of exertion as she slowly began to push herself up but it wasn't fast enough. Tenten's back was still to her and waving at the audience but that would only last a couple more seconds.

"I'm not done." Hinata repeated to herself. Her hands were glowing brightly with her chakra as she got to her knees. Come on! Hinata urged herself mentally. She got up on one foot, her other knee was still on the ground. The chakra in her hands was blazing wildly.

"What's going on?" Tenten still hadn't turned around but she did notice the crowd was going even more nuts than before. They were also shouting something weird but she couldn't figure it out from the way their voices were meshing.

Then she heard it. The sound of energy waving wildly behind her. Tenten spun around and saw Hinata running towards her, not at full speed but faster than a few minutes ago. "Impossible…"

"It's not impossible!" Hinata shouted. The chakra around her hands was shaped like lions. "It's the strength of my determination and hard work!" Hinata swung her first fist forward.

"Give it up! I'm a genius of weapons!" Tenten brought her staff in front of herself to guard. Hinata's fist shattered it completely, sending shards of splinters everywhere, some of which hit Tenten in the face. Involuntarily, she closed her eyes and brought her hands back.

"I won't ever give up…because I'm a genius of hard work!" Hinata took another step forward and swung her fist. "Juho Soshiken!" It connected with Tenten's jaw and sent her flying. She hit the ground with a loud thud and didn't move again. She was unconscious.

The crowd was silent. Just a moment ago and Hinata had been down for the count. Now she was up and Tenten was unconscious. Even Hayate was too stunned to say anything at the moment.

"I…I did it." Hinata stumbled and almost slipped to her knees. She could still feel the poison running through her body. Some form of adrenaline must have allowed her to overcome the effects temporarily.

"Yes! Go Hinata! You won! You did it!" Only one voice penetrated the total silence of the arena. Hinata smiled happily.

"That's the way to do it Hinata!" Lee's voice joined in next.

"Way to show the world your youth! That's my student!" Her whole team was yelling for her.

Then she heard it, at first it was faint, but people were clapping. She looked into the crowd with her Byakugan and saw Haku's group and in a different area, the other rookies, all clapping excitedly. Then she saw something that blew her away. The entire Hyuuga clan that had come to see the tournament stood tall and were giving a reserved clap…even her father.

Soon the whole crowd was going wild again, and even louder than before. They were cheering for her. For _her. _

"The winner is Hyuuga Hinata!"


	24. The Tournament Part 2

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_The Tournament (Part 2)_

* * *

Hinata felt her feet giving out underneath her. She had won. She had beaten Tenten, the weapons genius that graduated the year before her, but it had been a heavy victory. The paralysis poison was still seeping through her body and it was sapping her strength fast. Just as she felt her knees buckle, she felt warmth around her shoulders. Someone was helping her stand.

"Naruto-kun…" Hinata turned her head slowly upwards. The blonde beamed down at her proudly as he held on to her. "I did it." She leaned her head onto his chest.

"Yeah, you did it." Naruto looked over to Tenten. A group of medics were picking her up and setting her on a stretcher at this moment. "Are you guys going to heal Hinata too?" Naruto had a feeling he knew what the answer was, but he asked anyways.

One medic sadly shook his head as he looked at Hinata. "While I would like to, if she is not suffering from anything fatal, it is forbidden for us to heal her while she is still a contestant."

Normally Naruto would have shouted at them about how unfair that was, instead he just nodded solemnly. "Come on, Hinata. I'll get you back up to the contestant box."

Hinata nodded. "Thank you, Naruto-kun."

"Don't mention it, you did really well. Next all you have to do is cream that jerk cousin of yours." Naruto gave a feral smile as he thought about that battle.

Hinata attempted to smile at the thought but couldn't. "I don't think I'll be able to do much like this."

"Not a problem!" Lee called from above. A moment later and he landed right in front of them. "I have just spoken with Sasuke-kun and he informed me that the poison isn't meant to be long-term. It should be through your system in about fifteen minutes."

"Nice!" Naruto turned and smiled brightly at Hinata but was surprised to see she didn't seem to share his enthusiasm. "What's wrong? That's good news, isn't it?"

Hinata nodded slowly. "It is just difficult…having to fight family." Naruto grimaced. Everything was always complicated when it came to her family. He needed to get things moving, no need in depressing her.

"Anyway, good luck in your fight, Bushy Brow." Naruto nodded to his older teammate. "I'll get Hinata up there as fast as I can so we can watch."

"Yosh! I am ready to let my fire shine just as brightly as Hinata's!" Lee began doing stretches as he waited for Dosu to appear in the ring. They still had time though. Hayate hadn't even announced the next two combatants due to the volume of the crowd. They were still going wild over the conclusion to the last fight.

"Let's hurry." Naruto quickly got Hinata inside the stairwell and slowly began ascending the steps with her. He watched her closely on the way. Soon, it was too much for him to stay quiet. "You feeling any better, Hinata?"

Hinata looked startled that he called to her. She had apparently been deep in thought. "I'm still just kind of dazed…I really won, right?"

Naruto laughed. "Yeah you won! It was awesome! Everyone thought you were down for the count and then: Bam! You knocked her light's out!"

Hinata smiled wearily. "I almost forgot your knives." Hinata started reaching into her pouch to dig them out.

The sound of footsteps caused both of them to stop and turn. Dosu stood at the top of the stairs. At first Naruto thought he had been spying on them, but on closer inspection, Dosu looked just as surprised to see them. "Give them back when we reach the top." Naruto whispered to Hinata. She nodded.

They slowly began walking up the stairs again. At the same time Dosu started walking down. As they passed each other Naruto paused but Dosu kept walking. "Good luck out there!" Naruto yelled.

Dosu paused and turned curiously to look at Naruto. "I hope you don't plan on self-destructing like your teammate. That's worse than just giving up." Dosu didn't respond. Instead he turned and continued walking down the stairs.

Dosu reached the bottom of the stairs and continued walking. "As talkative as ever." He stopped and turned to the voice. Kabuto was leaning against the wall, the ANBU cat mask was on, concealing his face.

"Aren't you next to the Hokage right now?" Dosu eyed Kabuto warily.

"Perhaps, maybe I'm just a clone? Of course that one might be the clone." Dosu narrowed his eyes at Kabuto as he spoke.

"Maybe you both are clones." Kabuto laughed which only made the seal on Dosu's neck itch. His anger was beginning to well up. "What do you want? I thought you had no more use for me."

"Don't misunderstand." Kabuto wagged his finger as he talked. "I'm just passing on a warning. Just because you're useless doesn't mean you don't know too much. If you have any desire to survive than I suggest you do well in this tournament. I can't afford you spilling any information while you lay in the infirmary. In fact, you weren't even supposed to make it this far. Most people die when implanted with the curse seal. The fact that you are still alive is pure luck."

Dosu clenched his fist. It was all he could do to resist the urge to swing at the masked man in front of him. "I will win this tournament. I'll make you regret casting me aside. Just watch." Dosu turned and continued walking.

Kabuto smiled from behind his mask. "I'm looking forward to that."

Meanwhile, the other Kabuto was still leaning over the railing clapping dully. "Now that was a twist. I really thought she was done for."

"Never underestimate the Shinobi of this village." Sarutobi said with a small smile. "We don't go down that easily.

Kabuto stared at the old man out of the corner of his eye. "Oh...that sounds kind of like a warning."

"It is just a fact."

"Damn!" Ino yelled as she held onto her head with both hands. "Tenten had that! What happened?"

Kiba laughed. "Hinata knocked her for a loop! That's what happened!"

Shino adjusted his glasses. "That win was quite unexpected. Even I believed she was defeated once the poison set in."

"I told you." Shikamaru mumbled. "Those three can do anything, no matter how impossible it seems."

Sakura shivered slightly. "I wonder what kind of training they go through to be capable of doing that."

"I don't think its training." Chouji managed to say between a mouthful of chips. He finished the bag and then continued. "It's something different than that."

"It's their confidence in themselves." Shikamaru agreed.

This caused Ino to snort. "Hinata was the least confident girl in class."

"But when her confidence shows through…I think it makes her stronger than all of us, even Naruto and Lee." Sakura had a far off look as she spoke. Kiba doubted she was even aware she had said it aloud.

In the area reserved for the Hyuuga, even the normally stoic group was talking excitedly. "Hiashi, your daughter has grown well." An older man with an unmarked forehead praised.

"Yes, thank you." Hiashi nodded to the old man's thanks.

"I'm curious though, I haven't seen you training her in our clan's techniques. Furthermore, what ability did she use to get out of the effects of the poison?"

Hiashi had to resist the urge to turn an annoyed eye to the older man. "All credit to her growth goes to her team and sensei. I had nothing to do with it and therefore cannot say what she did to break through the poison." Although Hiashi said this, he had a good idea what had let Hinata do it, but the elder would have thought it preposterous so he didn't bother to say it.

The elder looked concerned by Hiashi's answer but that was it, instead he changed topics. "If she keeps this up, she may well be able to avoid being marked as a branch member. Of course, that doesn't bode well for little Hanabi."

Hiashi didn't try to stop himself from glaring this time. The old man had been expecting the look but still stepped back in surprise. "I think that is a discussion for another time…don't you?"

"Y-yes. I see that both contestants are on the field. I pray you keep in mind though that your daughter will be fighting a branch member in a couple of rounds. You better hope she doesn't shame us."

Hiashi continued to glare at the old man who refused to meet his eyes. "I am sure they will both show the true pride of our clan."

Guy was practically jumping around the whole arena he was so ecstatic. "How do you like that, Kakashi?"

"It's a little too early to be getting excited. You still have two students left to fight. A lot can happen." If Kakashi was at all perturbed having lost one student, he didn't show it.

"Lee won't even break a sweat here! Just you watch!" Guy pointed dramatically down at the arena.

"Oh, I'm watching." Kakashi said with his nose in a book.

The crowd was just finally winding down but one sole in particular was still cheering strongly. "That's the way Hinata! I knew you wouldn't lose!" Tazuna waved his arms wildly as he yelled.

Tsunami looked embarrassed. "Dad…act your age for once, please."

"What do you mean you knew she wouldn't lose? You were the first one to start crying when it looked like she was out." Inari mumbled.

"That's not true!" Tazuna denied the accusation.

Temari snorted at the exchange. She turned to the arena and looked at the two combatants. "What do you think about Lee-san's odds?" She asked Haku.

The feminine boy rubbed his chin. "I'm inclined to say he should win without a problem, but if this guy self-destructs too then he might be in trouble."

That comment caused Temari to smirk. "Otogakure sure is cowardly. I can't believe we had considered allying with them."

Haku nodded but he had to wonder. Dosu didn't seem like either of his teammates. He seemed to value the life of his friends. Maybe he was just looking too much into things.

Hayate gave a small cough as he looked at Lee and then at Dosu. Both boys were calmly preparing in their own way. Lee was still doing some stretches and Dosu stood completely still with his one visible eye closed.

Hayate cleared his throat and got both of their attention. "Are both of you prepared?" He asked.

"Yes! I am ready to have a most youthful battle!" Lee stood straight and saluted Hayate, an act that greatly confused the proctor.

"Yeah…" He turned and looked at Dosu who hadn't answered yet.

"I'm ready." Dosu nodded his consent and Hayate nodded back.

He then gazed up at the crowd. Most of them had calmed down and seemed to be waiting for him to give the signal. He raised his hand into the air. "Let the third match…begin!" He dropped his hand and jumped backwards.

Lee wasted no time. He immediately brought out four shuriken and threw them at his opponent. He was then charging right behind them.

Dosu brought his arm up and deflected the shuriken with his sound manipulator. Without waiting another second he swung his arm forward, attempting to catch Lee with a wave of sound. To his complete surprise, Lee vanished. "What?"

"Behind you." Dosu felt Lee's felt drill into his back, sending him tumbling forward and face first into the ground.

"Damn you…" Dosu grumbled as he picked himself up. Lee made no move to attack him as he did. "Are you looking down on me?"

Lee shook his head. "I want this to be a fair fight. I will not attack you if your guard is down."

Dosu started laughing. "A fair fight? Do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound? This is the world of Shinobi! Nothing is fair in our world!" Dosu wiped some dirt off his face before whispered to himself. "In this unjust world, you're betrayed even though you did everything you could."

Lee's bushy brow furrowed. He had barely caught what Dosu had said. "Even if the rest of the world betrays you, while you are my opponent in this match, I will still fight fair and square."

"Enough already." Dosu muttered before charging forward. "No one asked for your kindness!" He shouted and swung his arm again. To his annoyance Lee once again vanished.

This time though, Dosu spun around fast and as he predicted, Lee was right behind him. "The same trick won't work twice!" He swung, expecting Lee to be off-guard this time, so it was he was surprised when Lee managed to evade yet again. "Damn!" Dosu quickly turned around but Lee wasn't there.

Then he saw it, just a flicker of movement that occurred overhead. Thinking fast Dosu dove backwards and just barely dodged Lee's descending kick, which split the ground when he struck.

Lee freed his foot from the ground and was charging forward. "Too fast!" Dosu took a nervous step backwards and brought his arm up to defend himself. It looked like he was going to block Lee's punch but as if by magic, Lee's fist shifted slightly to the left and inside his guard, catching the Oto Genin right in the chin.

Dosu spun around a couple times but managed to stay standing. He instantly regretted it. Lee was in the air spinning. "Konoha Senpu!" The kick caught Dosu in the upper arm and sent him crashing sideways to the ground.

Lee settled back into his Goken stance and waited for him to get back up. "You think you're doing me a kindness?" Dosu yelled as he got back to his feet. "I don't need your pity! I'll show you my true power!" Having said this, Dosu reached to his neck and wrenched his scarf off. He then unclipped the straw raincoat that clung to his back. With a heavy thud, the raincoat hit the ground. He dropped the scarf which made a similar thud.

Lee's eyes brightened. "So you have taken to wearing weights too? That is an excellent show of youth!"

"Keep talking like that when I'm pushing your face in the dirt!" Dosu apparently took Lee's comment offensively and a second later and he was off. To most people in the crowd it appeared that he vanished just as Lee had been doing.

Dosu appeared behind Lee his arm poised to swing. "Now I got you!" Lee's arm shot out backwards and grabbed Dosu's arm before he was able to move it at all. "What?"

"You are certainly much faster than just a moment ago." Lee nodded a couple times. "However, you have not been using the weights long enough to be able to match my speed." Dosu didn't see Lee move again but suddenly the back of his foot was planted firmly on his cheek.

Dosu went spinning through the air before he crashed onto the ground and skid a few feet. "D-damn it…" Dosu cursed. He attempted to stand back up but stumbled slightly. "Is this really as far as my own strength takes me? Is this all I've managed to achieve?" He again tried to get back up but ended up slipping to the ground.

"I won't let this be the end of it! I have something to prove." The mark on Dosu's neck reacted and quickly began expanding, and while no change was visible on the outside due to his gauze and clothes, everyone in the arena felt it.

With the power of the curse seal flowing through him, Dosu found it incredibly easy to get back to his feet. In fact, he felt completely renewed. "This is great!" Dosu laughed and cracked his neck a couple times. "I'm going to pay you back ten times over for before."

Lee smiled happily back. "That is the spirit Dosu-kun! Never give up!" This time he was the one to attack first.

Dosu jumped to avoid Lee's leg sweep and then with greater speed than before twirled his body around and planted his own kick in Lee's right shoulder. "I got you!" Dosu yelled triumphantly as Lee skid back a couple of feet but managed to keep his balance.

"Nice work, Dosu-kun!" To Dosu's ire Lee seemed thrilled.

"Quit it with that annoying attitude!" Dosu shouted and charged again.

Lee's smile slipped slightly. "I do not mean to look down on you."

"That's not the point!" Dosu was beyond irritated. His life was on the line here and yet this kid was just smiling and treating this tournament like it was a joke. What was wrong with him?

Dosu swung with his left arm this time instead. Lee caught his fist with his left hand and threw his own punch with his right. Dosu smirked and brought up his sound manipulator. Lee paused just before he hit it.

"Now you're mine!" Dosu took advantage of Lee's hesitation and pulled both feet up at the same time, in an attempt to drop kick his opponent.

Lee let go of Dosu's fist and took a small step backwards before disappearing in a green blur.

"Not this time!" While still in mid-air, Dosu began spinning rapidly like a drill. Lee who had appeared just to the side with his elbow raised was caught completely off-guard as he was assaulted by sound-waves.

Dosu, his spin slowing landed on his feet and on his next spin clocked Lee right in the side of the head with his fist. Lee hit the ground hard. He slowly tried to get back up but instead he hurled the contents of his breakfast.

Dosu broke out into a high-pitch laugh. "This power is fantastic! To think I would be able to move like that, it's incredible, don't you think?" Dosu didn't wait for Lee to try and get up or answer. Instead he kicked Lee right in the stomach, rocketing the Genin across the field and straight into the wall of the arena.

Lee wiped his mouth of the rest of the barf from his mouth as he used to wall to stand himself back up. "Guess I have no choice." He muttered to himself. He hadn't wanted to take his weights off until at least the second round but it seemed there would be no helping it. He had Guy-sensei's permission to win however he wanted after all.

Lee reached down to grab the weights when he sensed a presence. He looked up in surprise to see Dosu right there, his fist cocked back.

"Crud." Lee put both hands on the wall and back-flipped himself up it multiple times. He just barely dodged Dosu's punch which sent shards of stone flying everywhere and leaving a crater in the wall.

"Damn, and here I thought I had enough power to punch through it completely." Dosu pulled his hand from the wall and flexed it a couple times. He then turned his gaze upwards. Lee was on the wall staring down at him.

"He's fast." Lee acknowledged as he pulled his weights off. "However, if it is a competition of speed I will not lose." He dropped both his weights which fell towards Dosu.

Dosu immediately jumped upwards and dodged the weights on his way up. The sound of two small explosions behind him caused Dosu to stop and turn just in time for dust to completely envelop him.

"Just how much did that weigh?" That was the only thing Dosu could think to say.

"A very youthful amount." Dosu ducked under a kick he couldn't even see. He then ran more upwards, quickly breaking free from the smoke. A small hole in the dust revealed that Lee too had already broken free from it.

Dosu almost let this observation catch him from blocking Lee's newest kick. Dosu skid across the wall and just barely managed to keep from unsticking himself.

"Damn…like hell am I going to lose to you just because you dropped a couple pounds!" Dosu felt even more power rushing through his seal. He dashed forward in a zigzag pattern.

Lee's eyes followed Dosu as he got closer and closer. The only thing he was really afraid of was that sound arm. He still hadn't completely recovered from the effects of the last swing after all. "Yosh!" Lee said to himself just as Dosu reached him.

"Take this!" Dosu swung his sound manipulating arm. Lee stepped inside Dosu's guard and deflected the arm to the right, sending soundwaves in the wrong direction. "Shit!" Dosu had anticipated Lee trying to dodge the attack, not deflect it.

Lee grinned widely to himself as he buried two quick jabs into Dosu's gut that lifted his feet from the wall. He then jumped and delivered a spinning kick that sent Dosu straight towards the ground.

Dosu cursed in his head at his own carelessness. He flipped in the air and managed to land on his feet but the shock from the hard landing sent shivers up his spine and caused his knees to lock up.

Lee however landed perfectly and immediately landed another punch that slammed Dosu into the wall.

"Damn it…" Dosu repeated. He could feel the power of the curse seal beginning to recede. Before he could properly think of a strategy, Lee was in his face again. Dosu brought his right arm again, knowing Lee wouldn't dare punch it in the fear of sending sound waves at himself.

However, this time Lee didn't hesitate and punched into the arm at a blinding speed that shattered the device on Dosu's arm into pieces. "Impossible…" Dosu had never even considered it possible that his weapon could be broken. Kabuto had said himself that it was made of the sturdiest alloy available.

The shock was so great Dosu hardly registered the foot that clocked him in the side of the head and sent him spinning to the ground.

"Am I going to die?" He mumbled to himself from where he lay.

"I won't kill you." Dosu's eye widened. He turned and saw it was Lee who had responded. He was smiling down at him just like before, this time giving him a thumbs-up. "I have no reason to kill you. You are making this a most excellent match."

Again, Dosu felt incredible anger. This kid didn't get it. He didn't get anything. "You…" Dosu seethed. He felt the power of the cursed seal surging like never before now.

"Hmm?" Lee continued to smile as he waited for Dosu to stand up.

"You…" Dosu got to his feet just as a purple aura became visible around him.

Lee's bushy brows furrowed at the sight of the dark chakra but he didn't say anything. Dosu was standing so that meant he was ready. Lee nodded to himself and then moved forward.

"I'll destroy you!" Dosu screamed at the sky. The purple chakra erupted violently from his body, launching Lee backwards and sending him spinning through the air.

Lee barely managed to land on his feet and the sight of Dosu when he did caused his eyes to go wide. The bandages normally covering Dosu's face had ripped to shreds, revealing dark gray skin and two strange triangular ears on either side of his head. His white hair fell back his head like a spiky mane. His sandals ripped apart as his feet became bigger and his toes turned into claws. Last, the underside of his sleeves ripped apart as two wings formed under his arm span.

"You look just like…a bat." Lee couldn't believe the transformation he had just witnessed and judging by the extreme silence from the crowd he doubted they could either.

Dosu looked down and seemed to observe himself the best he could. "Yes…" He whispered before crouching down. He then started flapping his wings and slowly he lifted off the ground. "Yes!" A moment later and he was flying high above the stadium at frightening speeds.

"Not good…" Lee pulled out a couple of shuriken and threw them upwards. Not surprisingly, Dosu managed to dodge.

"Let's see you hit me now!" Dosu laughed. "You may be fast but that speed means nothing while I'm in the air!"

"You have to come down to fight me eventually!" Lee shouted back upwards.

"I plan on it!" Having said that, Dosu immediately dove towards the ground at great speed. Just a split second before he would have hit the ground he stopped and immediately flew straight at Lee.

Lee jumped to the side and just barely dodged being outright rammed by the flying Shinobi. He rolled and began to get back up but Dosu was back again and this time nailed Lee full force.

The spandex-clad boy skid hard against the ground before rolling to a stop. When he managed to stumble back to his feet Dosu was high in the air again.

Lee sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "I _really_ did not want to have to go this far in the first round." Lee then spread his legs out and crossed his arms in front of himself.

"Oh? So you still have a trick left?" Dosu mumbled to himself as he saw Lee change his stance. "Go ahead and try it, not like it will make a difference."

"First Gate: Open!" Lee bellowed as a surge of energy burst forth from his body. "Alright! Let's go!" Lee pushed himself off the ground so hard that the spot he was standing on crumbled to pieces.

"What the hel-" Dosu was cut off as Lee's knee drilled itself into his stomach.

"Konoha Daigansho!" Lee spun around and nailed Dosu in the cheek with his elbow next sending the boy spinning away from him.

"You bastard…" Dosu corrected his flight and managed to remain at the same altitude. Meanwhile, Lee began descending back towards the ground. "You may have got me off guard but there's no way you can dodge while in midair!" Dosu flew at Lee as he shouted.

"I would not count on that." Lee kicked off of seemly nothing and launched forward towards Dosu.

"Impossible." Dosu altered his course and just barely managed to dodge Lee's spinning kick. "You projected yourself forward with pure energy!"

"Nothing is impossible!" Lee performed a backflip and launched himself forward, grimacing in pain as he did. He wasn't going to say it aloud, but doing this had the huge drawback of ripping his muscles apart each time so he was going to have to finish this in the next couple moves. Nodding to himself, Lee whipped out his kunai as he got closer to Dosu. He was going to have to sever one of his wings so he could return him to the ground.

Just as he got within range Dosu gave a quick smirk before opening his mouth wide. A horrid screech erupted forth that halted Lee in his tracks, despite being in the air.

It wasn't just Lee who was affected though. The whole crowd immediately covered their ears in a futile attempt to drown out the horrible noise.

Lee began tumbling head over feet towards the ground and without the ability to control his fall smashed painfully into the earth and didn't move.

Dosu erupted with laughter and sailed higher into the air until he was level with the Hokage and Kabuto. "Did you see that, Kabuto? I won't be dieing today! I'm going to win this whole tournament!"

"Hmph…" Kabuto smirked and readjusted his glasses so his eyes became visible. To Dosu's ire he was staring down at the arena floor. Dosu followed his gaze and was surprised to see Lee wobbly getting to his feet.

"You just don't know when to give up!" Dosu nosedived at the ground again, this time he intended to crash into Lee like a meteorite, insuring that he would never get up again.

Lee was on his feet but stumbling around pointlessly which caused Dosu to smirk. He was far to dizzy to realize he was less than three seconds away from being utterly crushed.

Two seconds until the impact and Lee stopped moving.

One second and Dosu flipped so his feet were the first thing to hit the ground…

…and then Lee just tucked and rolled forward, causing Dosu to smash pointlessly into the ground at full force.

"The hell…?" Dosu was buried up to his neck in the dirt and ached all over from the impact. But it didn't make sense to him. That shouldn't have been possible. Dosu was positive his sound attack had completely scrambled Lee's senses so being able to move like that was definitely impossible.

"You lucky bastard…" Dosu reached his arms out and pulled himself out of the ground. "…but your luck has just run out!" He flew forward again, this time Lee's back was to him. Just before he reached Lee this time though the Genin bent completely backwards and touched both hands on the ground, causing Dosu to fly straight over but before he got too far, Lee's feet came up and smashed him in the nose.

Dosu was sent crashing backwards into the ground just in front of Lee, causing him to cough up blood.

After that Lee began to stagger around aimlessly again.

"Naruto-kun…does that look familiar?" Hinata asked as she studied the way Lee was moving.

Naruto nodded in shock. "Isn't that the drunken fist?"

"Drunken?" Sasuke looked at the two of them. "He hasn't had any alcohol though."

Hinata shook her head. "In this case it is more of a dizzy fist but the effect is the same. Lee-senpai is like a completely different person when he gets this way."

"More like completely unstoppable." Naruto shivered as he thought about the one time he had to fight Lee like this.

"Unstoppable how?" Sasuke asked but he had a feeling he was about to see. Dosu had lifted himself back up.

"What is going on here? What did you do to protect yourself from my noise attack?" Dosu then let out a small gasp as his eyes met with Lee's. "You…you're not even aware of what's going on are you?" Dosu felt disgusted. He had gotten wailed on by a kid who couldn't even be called conscious. "That does it!" Dosu flapped his wings just enough to lift him off the ground before flying at Lee at full force.

Just before he reached him Lee spun around and his leg smashed into Dosu's face. Before Dosu could go flying far away Lee's arm snatched his ankle and Lee slammed him into the ground. Dosu hit the ground so hard he bounced up to waist level where Lee's knee met with his solar plexus, sending Dosu spinning in a front flip. Then Lee's forearm connected with Dosu's neck causing him to gag but finally knocking him away from the vicious onslaught.

Dosu lay on the ground for a few moments without moving before he began to crawl his way up. "God damn it…" He cursed as he felt the power of the curse seal retreating. His grayish skin was retracting backwards, his ears, feet, and arms returned to normal. Finally, the long white air he had became short, brown spiky hair. "I'm going to die…" Dosu rolled himself over so he was on his back but it was no good. He couldn't get himself back up.

Lee suddenly let out a loud groan. "What happened…?" He looked around and saw Dosu on the ground. "Dosu-kun…who did that to you?"

Any strength Dosu had left to fight vanished with that question. Lee had completely crushed him without even being aware of his surroundings. "It's all over." He lay his head down and stared up at the sky.

Hayate coughed as he walked forward and raised his arm into the air. "The winner of this round is…"

"Stop!" Hayate stopped and turned his head in surprise. Dosu too lifted his head back up so he could look at the boy who had shouted.

"This isn't right!" Lee continued. "I don't know what happened but whoever put Dosu-kun down like that wasn't me!"

This actually caused Dosu to become angry again. "Are you kidding me? You kicked my ass! It was you!"

"Even if it was me it shouldn't count! At the very least tell me what happened and I will let you do the same to me! It will put us on the same playing field!" Lee stamped his foot as he directed his shouting at Dosu now.

"You sound like a baby!" Dosu yelled back. "Fair or not fair, what does any of that matter? Fact is I can't fight anymore anyways! I lost this fight and my life is over! I give up already. Everything I've ever done has been for nothing." Dosu let his head fall back down.

Lee clenched his fist and grit his teeth. He didn't say anything at first but instead began walking forward at a brisk pace. He walked until he was right over Dosu before dropping to his knees and grabbing the scruff of Dosu's shirt.

"What are you doing?" Dosu asked in surprise.

"Just shut up and clench your teeth!" Lee shouted. Dosu looked confused but he got his answer as he watched Lee cock his fist backwards. A second later and Lee punched Dosu straight in the jaw, sending his head crashing into the ground.

"What the hell was that for? I said I quit already!"

"Exactly!" Lee shouted back. "Never give up! Keep fighting with everything you have! Your life will never have been for nothing as long as you put everything into what you do!"

Dosu narrowed his eyes in anger and his hand picked up some dirt off the ground. He then threw the dirt into Lee's eyes and a second later and he returned the punch to the jaw that Lee had just done.

Lee was knocked off Dosu and onto his back but to everyone's surprise Lee started laughing. "That's right! Just like that, you can keep fighting." Lee wiped the dirt out of his eyes and stumbled back to his feet. "Keep fighting until you can't anymore. Believe in yourself and it won't have been pointless. Even if you lose know that you've done your best."

"God damn, you're annoying." Dosu grumbled as he stumbled up to his feet as well. When he was standing Lee began to chuckle a little. "What is it now?"

Lee immediately stopped. "I was just surprised by how normal you look without all your Otogakure attire. You're only a little shorter than I am when you stand straight and your hair kind of reminds me of Naruto's. Even your face is normal."

Dosu wanted to get mad but instead he just sighed at that comment. "Enough already. I'm tired. If we're going to finish this fight then let's do it."

Lee smiled. "You got it." He ran forward a considerable amount slower than before but that wasn't surprising considering he was still recovering from the effects of the extreme dizziness and the hachimon.

Lee went to throw a punch but stumbled and missed without Dosu having even to dodge. Dosu didn't waste the opportunity and managed to punch Lee right in the face. Lee staggered backwards and before he could recover Dosu punched him in the face yet again.

Dosu pulled his fist back and went to punch again but Lee grabbed his fist this time. Then Lee's knee drilled in Dosu's stomach causing him to double over. Lee brought both hands above his head and smashed them into the back of Dosu's head.

Almost miraculously, Dosu managed to stay on his feet and he jumped forward, ramming Lee in the stomach and tacking him over. Both Genin rolled around on the ground attempting to punch, kick and push each other however possible. Dosu bit down on Lee's shoulder while Lee began pulling at the top of Dosu's hair.

Hayate and the crowd watched with open mouths as the two trained shinobi wrestled around on the dirt like children at a playground. It was so surprising that Hayate forgot all about his cough.

"This is ridiculous!" Dosu finally shouted and pushed himself away from Lee and rolled to his feet. Lee did the same.

"This is it…I'm putting everything I got into this blow." Dosu charged forward and threw his most powerful punch which connected with Lee's face.

"Then I shall do the same!" Lee shouted back. He knocked Dosu's punch aside and retaliated with his own. It clubbed Dosu right in the cheek with a loud smack.

After that, everything was silent. The only noise was the two boys' heavy breathing. Ten seconds passed.

Twenty.

Finally, after half a minute Dosu slipped down to his knees. "Nice punch…Lee-san." Dosu hit the ground with a thud.

"Not bad yourself…Dosu-kun." Lee nodded down at the unconscious Genin.

"May I?" Hayate stepped forward and raised his hand in the air again.

Lee nodded. "I shall not interrupt this time."

Hayate dropped his hand. "The winner is Rock Lee!"

The crowd immediately erupted into cheering and the medical shinobi ran forward with a stretcher to get Dosu.

Haku got to his feet and walked to the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Temari shouted at him.

"Bathroom." Haku answered without turning back. He was moving quickly down the steps.

"Speaking of which, I have to go too." Tazuna said as he got up. "I couldn't leave in the middle of that fight though. It was so intense." Tazuna reached the stairs but then stopped. "Haku! You're going the wrong way! The bathrooms are up the steps!"

Haku didn't hear him and kept running. He was already going down the next flight of steps.

"Hmm…curious." Temari narrowed her eyes at the spot Haku had just disappeared at.

"Hahaha!" Guy laughed happily. "How was that Kakashi? Most youthful if I say so myself! That's two for me!"

"Your overconfidence is going to be your downfall, Guy." Kakashi replied lazily.

"Your lethargy will be yours." Guy replied instantly. "The next battle could very well decide everything."

"It might also tie us up and even if it doesn't you still have Neji to get through. You should know better than to underestimate your old student."

Guy made an unreadable expression as he turned back to the Genin box which Lee had just jumped up into.

"How was that?" Lee shouted as he landed next to his teammates. "Was it not a most youthful showing?"

Hinata giggled quietly while she nodded. "You could barely walk a minute ago, Lee-senpai, but now you're running up the wall already."

"That's the power of youth, duh!" Naruto shouted as he and Lee exchanged high-fives.

"Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke are the next two contestants! The fight shall begin in five minutes!" Hayate's voice penetrated into box easily.

"Alright guys, I gotta go." Naruto turned and noticed Sasuke had already disappeared and was probably on his way down.

"Good luck, Naruto-kun." Hinata leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"No pressure Naruto, but let's go for a first round sweep!" Lee gave Naruto the thumbs up.

Naruto returned the gesture. "As if there was ever an alternative!" He then turned and began racing down the steps.

"You are all truly foolish." Neji muttered quietly to himself. If anyone had heard him though, no one said anything.

Naruto hit the bottom of the first flight of stairs. He then began running down the dark hallway that led to the next flight of stairs. Just before he reached the end of the hallway though, three figures stepped out in front of him. Naruto slowed to a stop and looked up at the huge men in front of him.

"What's up? You guys want my autograph before I go?" Naruto played dumb; anyone could tell right off the bat that these guys were less than friendly. He could sense two of them attempting to sneak up quietly behind him at the same time.

"Listen punk." The one in the middle spoke up in a gangly voice. "Some folks with big money have got their bets placed on the Uchiha kid. He's going to win this whole tournament…understand?" The man lifted the hem of his shirt, showing off a kunai hooked to his pants.

One of the other guys was already sliding on brass knuckles and the third man was reaching into his back pocket for something. It was then that Naruto realized they didn't even intend to let him fight at all. They were going to try and kill him here. The two that were behind him were almost in position too.

Naruto smirked. He had this no problem. Just before he could open his mouth to make a smart response through, the thug on the left had his face slammed into the wall by a strong kick. A moment later and Sasuke landed in the middle right next to Naruto.

"U-uchiha Sasuke." The man in the middle shouted.

"This type of stuff makes me sick. Tell whoever hired you that I'm going to win with my own power or not at all." Sasuke slid into his stance, not even bothering to activate his sharingan.

"Tch, get him! Kill the brat but don't harm Uchiha!" All four standing men charged at once.

Without saying a word Naruto went backwards and Sasuke forward. One move from each one of them and one guy was down. Another move and all four were down.

Suddenly, the guy Sasuke had beat up first was up and swinging his brass knuckle right at Sasuke's face.

Sasuke ducked down so his back was straight with the floor and a second later and he felt Naruto's hand on his back, using it to launch himself into the air and above the man. Sasuke then ran forward and delivered a punch to the man's stomach while Naruto nailed him in the back of the head. The man collapsed to the ground in an unconscious heap.

"W-what teamwork…" One of the men mumbled before he passed out too.

"Tch." Sasuke shook his head. "I don't know what annoys me more, the fact that I had to waste energy on scum like this or the fact that we really do work flawlessly together."

Naruto shook his head. "I would have had them just fine by myself. You wouldn't have to be annoyed at all if you hadn't interfered."

"I was making a point. I fight my own battles..." Sasuke turned before mumbling a little more. "…and no one messes with my friends without going through me."

"What was that?"

"We're going to be late thanks to your slow ass, hurry up!" Sasuke shouted while he hurried down the steps.

* * *

Dosu quickly regained consciousness inside the medical ward of the arena. He was lying in a bed in a big room. The only other occupant of the room was an unconscious Tenten.

Dosu attempted to sit up immediately but cringed from the pain. He was completely covered in bandages. "Damn it…I lost after all, huh?" He asked at the ceiling.

"You sure did." The unexpected voice caused him to jump. He turned his head and saw Kabuto with the ANBU outfit standing there.

"Damn…" Dosu turned his head back to the ceiling.

"Looks like Lee was wrong about you. Everything you did was for nothing." Kabuto pulled out a kunai and held it above Dosu's throat.

"Shut up." Dosu was surprised by how scratchy his voice sounded. Even weirder was the fact that his vision was getting blurry.

"Are you crying?" Kabuto asked, sounding completely amused by the idea.

"No!" Dosu shook his head in fierce denial but even he realized that Kabuto was right. Yet it didn't make sense. He had been prepared for this since he'd been betrayed, since he had join Otogakure to begin with. What inside him had changed that he now cried at the thought of his death.

Kabuto started cracking up. "This is too funny! Some worthless Konoha Genin shows you the slightest little bit of kindness and you get soft! Tells you that your life meant something! That if you do your best it will work out and you went and fell for it! Well what has it got you? He's only gone and made you feel crappy right before you die."

Dosu opened his mouth and a choked sound came out. "Hmm? What was that?"

"I said don't call him worthless! He's a better person than you'll ever be!" Dosu wasn't sure what about Lee compelled him to stick up for him but hearing Kabuto badmouth him set something off inside.

Kabuto laughed harder. "This whole village is worthless, just like you."

"Say another bad thing about this village and I'll shove this sword through your mouth." Dosu turned his head in surprise. Behind Kabuto was a mirror of ice with a boy in it. Sticking out of the ice mirror was a katana.

"Oh…if it isn't the Genin Proctor?" Kabuto said sarcastically. "What brings you here?"

Haku sighed. Why did they still call him that? "I was just looking into something I saw interesting."

"Interesting? Surely you don't mean this boy?" Kabuto asked as he looked down at Dosu.

"Maybe I do." Haku replied nonchalantly.

"Well, I'm sorry to inform you, but I intend to kill him right now." Kabuto raised his kunai a little.

"Move another centimeter and I'll spear your heart." Haku warned.

"Tell me something, Genin Proctor. Have you ever heard the saying action is faster than reaction?" Kabuto asked evilly.

It was Haku's turn to smirk. "Actually, I have." Before he even finished talking the door was completely shattered and Zabuza's sword came spinning into the room. Kabuto was caught completely off-guard and the sword pierced him right in the stomach.

Just a second later and Kabuto poofed into smoke and Zabuza's sword hit the ground with a clang.

"You're late." Haku said as he stepped out of the mirror and Zabuza walked into the room.

"The kid's still alive, isn't he?" Zabuza grumbled as he picked up his sword.

"That's not the point. One more sentence and it would have been over." Haku rubbed his temple. Sometimes it was hard to believe Zabuza was older than him.

"If you saved me for information…I'll tell you whatever you want." Dosu's voice broke the two from their bickering.

Haku and Zabuza looked at Dosu before looking at each other. Zabuza then shrugged. "Get what you can out of him. If it's anything new report it to an ANBU. I'm still on the lookout for the real one."

"The real one?" Dosu asked in surprise.

Zabuza nodded. "The Yamanaka are a truly incredible clan. That four-eyes freak showed up next to the Hokage and immediately the ANBU and a few Jonin were given a mission to locate the real one. That one next to the Hokage is most definitely a Shadow Clone.

Dosu and Haku both nodded slowly. "Anyways, Dosu-san. My name is Haku and I have a proposition for you."

"In exchange for the information?" Dosu asked warily.

Haku shook his head. "No, this would benefit both you and me though. Word on the street is you're looking for a new village."

"As luck has it, I need one more teammate."

* * *

"There he is!" Ino squealed in excitement as Sasuke and Naruto quickly emerged into the arena and took their respective places. "This fight is going to be over in a minute! No way is it going to take forever like those last two!"

"Yeah. Naruto'll have Sasuke running with his tail between his legs in no time." Kiba nodded in mock agreement to Ino.

"Like hell dog-breath!" Ino yelled at Kiba, her hair whipping around in fury.

"Now, now." Sakura attempted to calm Ino down. "I'm sure they'll both do really good."

"Sakura…I'm not sure I know you anymore." Ino shook her head and returned to cheering for Sasuke.

"It shall be interesting to see the outcome either way." Shino said as he readjusted his glasses.

"For sure." Chouji said between munches. "The dead-last of our class versus the top student also from our class."

"The genius of hard work versus the natural born genius…" Shikamaru mumbled.

On the arena floor Hayate was gazing up at the crowd. They were all starting to look pretty eager which was no surprise. Sasuke was a favorite in this tournament after all.

"You both ready? I know it hasn't exactly been five minutes but the crowd is looking pretty anxious." Hayate asked as he looked at both boys.

Naruto laughed aloud. "Please, I've been waiting for the day I get to show this guy up since the academy."

Sasuke scoffed. "Whenever we spared at the academy I kicked your sorry ass."

Hayate looked at them both again. "Is that a yes?"

"Just start this." They said together.

"Alright. Let the fourth match of Konoha's Chunin Exam Tournament…begin!" As before, Hayate dropped his hands and jumped backwards.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto immediately created three clones and all four of them were running forward.

Sasuke activated his sharingan and slipped into a defensive stance.

The first Naruto reached him and thew a punch. Sasuke smirked and ducked under the clones strike and then struck it in the back of his head with an elbow. The clone tumbled forward and hit the ground.

Two charged at once this time but Sasuke jumped over them and attacked the one in the back that had started forming seals with a hard kick to the head, smashing his face into the ground.

"Now for you." Sasuke turned and ran at the last two.

"Naruto clone hammer!" Naruto shouted as he grabbed onto the arm of his last clone and swung it at Sasuke.

"Wha-" Sasuke, completely got off guard by the unorthodox attack got clocked in the side of the head by the clones foot. He stumbled but managed to stay on his feet.

"Hah…get's them every time!" Naruto gave himself a high five.

"Idiot…" Sasuke mumbled.

"What was that?" The clone shouted and charged forward. Meanwhile the other one stayed back and began running through hand signs.

Sasuke watched the clone's taijutsu with one eye and Naruto's ninjutsu with his other eye. "Alright." He delfected the clones punch and knocked it to the side before running through a set of seals.

"Suiton: Suiben no Jutsu!" Four whips of water appeared out of nowhere around Naruto and fired off at Sasuke.

"Doton: Doryuheki no Jutsu!" Sasuke inhaled and sprayed mud from his mouth right in front of himself. A small wall of earth rose from the mud but when Naruto's whips hit the mud wall it began getting bigger.

"The hell?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke ran out from the wall, throwing a kunai as he did. "Don't you know anything about elemental affinities? Water can't beat earth." The kunai exploded catching Naruto in the blast.

Sasuke ran at the last Naruto left. "I commend you though." Sasuke complimented. "Substituting with your clone after I knocked it aside, I didn't even notice right away."

Naruto blocked Sasuke's punch and then jumped over his sweep kick.

Naruto's other two clones ran at him and Sasuke jumped backwards to get away from them while running through a set of seals. "Fuuton: Shinkuha!" Sasuke breathed out a blast of wind that sliced deeply into the clones. However, they all managed to stay in existence. "Damn…that's some endurance."

"You're wind isn't sharp enough. You have to imagine a blade when you fight with the wind." Naruto lectured.

"I don't need to be lectured by someone who doesn't know what's weak against what." Sasuke grumbled.

"Oh yeah? Just cause water is water and earth is earth means it'll lose every time?" Naruto pointed at Sasuke dramatically as he talked.

"Uh…duh." Sasuke responded.

"Well I think that's crap! I'll just overpower your earth with so much water it won't know what happened!" Naruto formed a horse seal and a red aura slowly started to leak around him.

Sasuke smirked. He had been waiting for this. His sharingan began spinning rapidly. He blinked and suddenly his whole world changed. He was back inside Naruto's mind. "What the hell happened? How did I get here?" Naruto shouted in outrage.

"Uchiha…Sasuke." Kyuubi muttered darkly. It was apparently still mad about the last time it had its connection from Naruto cut.

"Sorry Naruto, but I can't afford to fight you while you use this power." Sasuke's eyes were still spinning and the chakra flowing from the cage was suddenly cut off.

"Damn it, that's no fair! I never should have told you about the fox!" Naruto pouted and stamped his foot.

"You didn't tell me you idiot, remember you let it take you over?" Sasuke shouted.

"That's aside the point." Naruto yelled back.

"Damn it! Let's yell at each other outside! We probably look stupid just standing there staring at each other." Sasuke began fading away and soon vanished from Naruto's mindscape.

"Stupid jerk…" Naruto mumbled as he vanished too.

"Those idiots are getting way too comfortable when they come in here. I'm the Kyuubi damn it..."

Sasuke blinked and he was outside. A second later and Naruto yelling at him confirmed that he was outside too.

"So what are you going to do now? No red chakra means you can't over power my Doton." Sasuke smirked at the blonde.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "You think I need red chakra to do that? I'm going to teach you why you don't know anything, Sasuke-chan!" Naruto began running through seals.

Sasuke's eyes widened as he sensed the volume of chakra being released. "Naruto! What are you doing? With that much chakra you'll…"

Sasuke didn't get to finish as Naruto inflated like a balloon just briefly before exhaling a huge amount of water. Sasuke was forced to jump before he got bowled over by a wave but it didn't just stop there. Naruto kept spewing more and more water until the level rose halfway up the stadium.

"Whew…" Naruto was gasping for breath. "I've never actually performed that technique without the red chakra. It's pretty damn taxing."

"You idiot! Do you have any idea what you've done! Proctor, is this okay?" Sasuke turned and shouted at Hayate.

Hayate coughed before answering. "It's no problem, if it is within one's power to alter the arena then go for it. Naturally, the arena will remain like this until a different contestant changes it."

"So it might be this way up to the final round?" Sasuke shook his head in disbelief. "What a waste of chakra, having to run around on top of this water."

"Just break the wall than!" Naruto immediately covered his clone's mouth.

Sasuke sighed. "That'd be an even bigger waste. I don't have chakra to throw around like you."

Naruto smirked. "I'll go ahead and admit it, what I did cost me pretty heavily. I'm going to have to start playing smart too." As he said this all his clones were pulling out chakra knives.

"So wasting your chakra on that is what you call smart?" Sasuke deadpanned.

Naruto shook his head. "Don't misunderstand. They can use all the chakra they want since I've already created them. If they use all they got then they disappear. Simple as that."

"Well damn…" Sasuke began running through seals quickly. The clones were beginning to pump chakra into the knives. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Sasuke spit a giant ball of fire just as the clones launched their blades of wind.

The wind blades hit the fireball causing it to grow bigger and bigger. "Oh..crap." Naruto cursed. He forgot wind was weak against fire. The fireball exploded just as it reached the clones, dispelling the two of them and sending large amounts of steam everywhere.

"Damn…it's hot!" Naruto shouted as he started to run away from the incredibly hot water he was standing on.

Just as he appeared out of the steam a giant spinning shuriken came flying around. "Like that will hit me!" Naruto jumped over it but then saw a second one break away from the shadow of the first.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto created a single clone beneath him which he jumped on to launch himself higher. Naruto created six more clones this way and used each one to propel him higher and higher. Soon Naruto was far higher than even the Hokage.

"Let's see you stop me while I'm up here." Naruto laughed to himself. He was slowly falling back towards the ground but he already had a plan. Once Sasuke popped a clone he would create a wave using the boiling hot water. With this he could pin Sasuke in a corner where he would use the wind blades again but this time he would create a strong gust. Sasuke, thinking it would be just a blade would release another fire jutsu and fall right into Naruto's trap. "Heheh…perfect…"

Naruto laughed to himself just as the image of a clone being destroyed came into his mind. "Time to go!" Naruto began forming seals but paused. "That bastard…" Naruto hadn't anticipated this. It looked like it had been another clone that had popped his clone but that just meant Sasuke had gotten smart and henged into an exact look alike of him.

"First my Suiton, then my red chakra, then my blades, but lastly my clones!" Naruto was yelling at the top of his lungs. "You would be able to cancel out everything I know how to do you asshole!" He landed back down on the water which wasn't nearly as hot as before. He immediately dispelled all of his clones so there was only him and another Sasuke disguised as him left.

"So what you going to do now?" Sasuke didn't even bother breaking the henge, a fact that irritated Naruto.

"I guess I'm going to go with the trend and get rid of my weights this round too." Naruto unhooked them both and they sunk to the bottom of the arena. "If you take everything I have then taijutsu it has to be." Naruto settled into a Goken stance.

"Unfortunately I can see through that too. Unless you're as fast as Lee-san my eyes will catch you." Sasuke settled into his own fighting stance.

"Don't underestimate me!" Naruto shouted as he vanished. He reappeared behind Sasuke in the middle of a spinning kick. Sasuke ducked under the kick and brought his whole foot completely upwards, catching Naruto in the side of the head and sending him to the water.

Naruto rolled and was immediately back on his feet and charging. He brought his fist backwards. To anyone else the movements would have been too fast but to Sasuke Naruto might as well have been crawling. The Uchiha stepped forward and slammed his elbow into Naruto's face before the blonde even got his fist close to Sasuke.

Naruto gave a scream of pain as Sasuke then stepped forward and buried his fist in his stomach. He then jumped and delivered a powerful kick that sent Naruto skipping across the water.

The crowd sat there dumbfounded. Sasuke was still henged as Naruto and most of them weren't sure which was which anymore.

"Damn it…" Naruto's voice came out nasally. He was willing to bet Sasuke had broken his nose with that elbow. Normally he wouldn't be worried about it because it would heal fast but a certain asshole had cut him off from the fox.

"Is there really nothing I can do against those eyes?" Naruto pondered aloud.

"Not a thing." Sasuke answered. He hadn't heard Naruto but he had read his lips. "If it uses chakra I can see it and you might as well be a glowing beacon of chakra."

"Uses chakra…that's it!" Naruto shouted triumphantly as he stood up, blood dripping down his face.

"What?" Sasuke asked in confusion as he watched Naruto form the ram seal again.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted but this time instead of just creating just three clones he created twenty. There was a whole battalion of Narutos.

Sasuke chuckled. "I'll admit that you coordinate three clones perfectly. Even I have a hard time competing with you like that, but there's no way you can effectively control twenty at once. They'll just get in each other's way."

"I told you don't underestimate me! I put most of what I had left into this so you better get ready for it!" Naruto shouted as he and his twenty clones charged right at Sasuke.

Sasuke smirked and charged back at them. This was going to be easy. All he had to do was charge head long into them and they would all be too confused. This wasn't going to be a problem at all.

Sasuke and the clones met and as planned Sasuke immediately got into the center of the clones but then to his complete shock they all popped out of existence at once, covering the whole area he was in with smoke. "What the hell?"

"I don't understand. Why dispel them?" Lee didn't understand what had just happened.

"It's a smokesceen." Hinata answered, smiling brightly at Naruto's tactic.

"But can't Sasuke-san's Sharingan see through a smokescreen?"

Hinata shook her head. "Do you know why shadow clones give off smoke when they pop?"

Lee thought about it for a second before shaking his head. "That smoke is chakra outside of the body dispelling into the air. Because of that my Byakugan can't even see through it. To Sasuke's sharingan while he was in the middle of it the effect was probably something similar a flash bang."

As she finished explaining the smoke cleared to reveal both Naruto's. One was standing and the other was floating on the surface of the water.

"Naruto got him!" Lee shouted.

"You should pay closer attention." Neji spoke for the first time.

"Huh?" Lee asked.

"Your teammate was the one with a broken nose." Neji answered.

"No way!" Hinata said suddenly as she was looking down at the water. The one laying on the surface had blood leaking out of his nose. The Naruto that was standing poofed into smoke and Sasuke was revealed in his place.

"His sharingan…isn't active." Lee said. While he had been henged as Naruto they couldn't tell but now that he wasn't it was obvious. "He saw through Naruto's tactic…"

"Naruto-kun…lost?"

Sasuke smirked as he stared down at Naruto. "It was a good move Naruto, but I already know how you think. This match is my win."

The crowd was cheering crazily. Ino was going wild from her seat and everyone else did their best to ignore her.

Sasuke turned and started walking towards the genin box. He only got a couple steps though before a bubbling below his feet caught his attention. Then two whips of water shot up and wrapped around both of his arms. "The hell?"

The Naruto laying on the surface of the water popped just as another Naruto broke the surface of the water right in front of Sasuke.

"I told you never to underestimate me!" Naruto channeled all his strength into his fist as he sent it flying forward. Sasuke wasn't able to do anything as it connected with his face sending him flying across the water. He skipped a couple of times before he slammed against the wall and then collapsed back to the water.

Naruto stood there panting heavily. He had put every ounce of thinking he had into that strategy and it had paid off.

Sasuke coughed up blood but somehow he managed to get back to his feet. He wobbled a little but then started walking forward on the water. "Not bad...Naruto." His Sharingan activated and he started forming seals.

Naruto smiled at him but suddenly cringed and bent over. "Damn it...I'm about out of chakra."

Sasuke meanwhile finished the seals and a blade of electricity formed in his hands. "Chidori!" Sasuke yelled and then charged forward.

Naruto cursed and racked his brain for a way out. He could create a clone to intercept the damage but that would only delay the inevitable. He needed to do something that would let him win. "Guess I've got to try it." Naruto nodded to himself as he crouched slightly.

"This fight is over, Naruto!" Sasuke yelled. He was just a couple feet away. He took one more step and then swung his arm forward.

"First Gate: Open!" Naruto shouted just a moment before vanishing.

"What?" Sasuke didn't even see Naruto move. A second later though and a foot to his chin revealed that Naruto had just gone right beneath him. Naruto flipped so he was looking at the water and launched himself upwards. He appeared right next to Sasuke who was still suspended in the air.

"This fight is over when I say it's over, Sasuke!" Naruto brought his foot down hard on top of his opponent's head, slamming him powerfully into the water and creating a massive splash, sending water spraying into the crowd.

Naruto landed on top of the rocking water and immediately dropped to his knees. He held his side and was panting even heavier than before. "I can't believe I actually managed to open it..."

The whole crowd waited with baited anticipation for Sasuke to emerge from the water. They didn't have to wait long. Sasuke broke free from the water gasping for breath and attempting to pull himself up. After a few failed attempts he managed to get on top of the water.

"You got me...Naruto." Sasuke looked up at him and Naruto saw his Sharingan was no longer active. "You really are..." Sasuke started to slip back into the water. "...a genius." He disappeared below as he lost consciousness.

Naruto stared with wide eyes at the spot Sasuke had just been at. He had just acknowledged him in front of everyone. The feeling it gave him was indescribable.

"The winner is Uzumaki Naruto." Hayate announced.

"He won! He won!" Hinata and Lee were holding each other and jumping around in circles.

"Yes! That's my student! That's how Team Guy rolls!" Guy bellowed.

"Three for three!"


	25. The Tournament Part 3

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_The Tournament (Part 3)_

* * *

"Sounds like you made it an exciting match…Naruto-kun." Kabuto stood inside the inner halls of the tournament arena. To his left was a stairwell but you couldn't take more than a couple steps down it without getting engulfed in water thanks to the flood Naruto had caused.

"Sir!" A seemly normal dressed man came running up to Kabuto and gave a small salute.

"You're late." Kabuto spoke with a cruel tone of voice.

"S-sorry, sir. They blocked off all the entrances and the bottom levels of the arena are shut down because of all that water. They're trying to prevent it from flooding the streets so I had to sneak in."

Kabuto clucked his teeth loudly. It didn't help that there was advanced security running all over the place. "I'll let you off the hook this time than. Give me your report."

"Yes! All the Shinobi from the rest of the continent but one group have arrived!" The man said, still saluting.

"Hmm? Which group isn't here?" Kabuto wondered aloud.

"Those from the cursed seal lab. The group headed by J-Jugo." The man stuttered the man's name, not a fact missed by Kabuto.

"Something wrong?" Kabuto asked. The man shook his head. "Speak freely, I am curious."

"W-well…sir. Orochimaru-sama didn't want to use all of our troops from across the continent. Just the one's stationed here in The Land of Fire. Most of the other bases are for unstable and experimental groups. Frankly, we don't know how they'll behave once they're on the battlefield. Especially Juugo's group."

Kabuto smiled sinisterly when the man finished, causing him to take a step back in alarm. "That's the fun in it though. How are we supposed to truly test them if we don't let them out of their cages once in awhile? We also don't have the support of Sunagakure anymore so I'm compensating for that."

"Yes…but…" The man protested.

"Report back to your division for now and wait for my signal. The time to use the Kyuubi shall be soon." Kabuto patted the man lightly on the cheek.

"Yes sir!" The man turned and began to amble away. After a few steps he stopped and turned back around. "How did the weapon do?"

"It passed my test. It'll benefit us nicely in this battle." The man smiled brightly at Kabuto's answer before he turned back around and vanished into the dark hallway.

Kabuto leaned up against the wall and began chuckling. "Everything is going perfectly. Any information Dosu-kun gives them will be meaningless so he's lucky and gets to keep his life a little longer. If anything it should make this whole thing more interesting. So do try to make this experiment entertaining…"

"…Konoha."

* * *

Naruto took in huge gulps of air as he unsteadily stood on his feet. "Damn…if I had access to the fox this wouldn't have been a problem." Naruto's voice came out nasally through his broken nose.

"Naruto-kun!"

"Naruto!" Lee and Hinata ran up to their teammate.

"What's up guys? How was that?" Naruto gave them a bloody smile.

"Most youthful!" Lee patted him roughly on the shoulder. "Can you not hear the crowd screaming for you?" Naruto had actually not been aware at all but now they he tuned into it they were indeed going crazy. They were cheering loudly and screaming his name passionately.

"I don't understand…why are they so happy for me?" Naruto felt tears beginning to brim on his eyes. He had never received such looks of approval for that many people in his life.

Hayate coughed. "It's simple really. You put on a great fight. Plus you went against all odds and beat one of the two favorites for the tournament."

Naruto suddenly smiled brightly. He took a couple shaky steps toward the crowd and struck his hands in the air making a V with his fingers. "That's right everyone! I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I'm well on my way to becoming Hokage! Laugh at me now!" Naruto broke into loud laughter after he screamed that and the crowd got even more riled up in response.

Lee smiled happily at his teammate. Just then he heard someone break the water and he turned to see a couple medics hauling Sasuke out of it.

Hayate coughed again to get their attention. "Since the first round of matches is concluded there will be a fifteen minute interval until the next round begins. Do your best to relax and get prepared for your next match. Please pass that on to Neji as well."

Lee and Hinata nodded before they walked up to their teammate. "Naruto-kun…" Hinata started.

"Hmm? What's up?" Naruto asked as he turned to her.

"How long will it take for you to get back in touch with the fox?" Hinata asked seriously.

Naruto rubbed his chin as he thought about it. "I think the last time it took half an hour. So somewhere around there."

"So that means I just have to last fifteen minutes…" Hinata mumbled to herself.

"I didn't catch that." Naruto looked confused by Hinata's sudden serious look.

She shook her head. "It was nothing Naruto-kun. Let's go back up top on recuperate. It does take chakra to water walk after all."

"Right, let's go." Naruto and Lee nodded and followed her to the Genin box.

Guy was ecstatic. His team had swept the first round and now they were all advancing. "This bet is as good as mine." He couldn't wait to see behind Kakashi's mask.

"Don't count your chickens before they hatch, Guy. If Hinata doesn't win here than it's as good as tied up since your other two have to fight each other." Kakashi's book was nowhere to be seen. He was serious now. "Plus, Neji didn't break a sweat in his fight. All three of your students got beat up pretty badly and I doubt Naruto or Lee are the type to go easy on each other or hold back because they're teammates or because it'll give one a better shot against Neji."

Guy couldn't deny that. It was also a fact though that he preferred it that way. Coming out on top when you were already down would make the victory just that much sweeter. Guy had little fear of losing this bet. His gut told him so.

"Whoa, looks like I missed a lot." Haku scratched his head in embarrassment as Temari glared daggers at him. "I take it that Naruto is responsible for flooding the arena?"

"Where did you go?" Temari ignored Haku's attempt at small talk and got right to the point.

"Oh, well you see, I got lost…" Haku answered meekly.

"Lost where exactly?" Temari's look threatened pain if he answered wrong.

"…on the road of life?" Haku didn't even know Temari had brought her giant metal fan with her until it clubbed him in the side of the head.

"How could he have lost?" Ino was practically on the verge of tears. "There's no way the dead-last got that good!"

"Keep saying stuff like that and I'm gonna get pissed." Kiba growled as he stood up.

"Kiba…" Sakura warned her teammate lightly.

"No!" Kiba shouted. "Naruto saved our asses in the forest at the risk of his own life and this girl just keeps on insulting him without even giving him the credit he's due!"

Ino looked taken aback by Kiba's shouting. She opened her mouth in order to protest but suddenly a group of chips were in her mouth before she could. "That's enough Ino…" Chouji smiled brightly at her. "…even Shikamaru talks about how intense their training is. It's no surprise they've gotten that strong."

Ino spit the chips out and glared at everyone. "You're all against me in this, huh?" She sighed and crossed her arms in front of herself. "Fine, Naruto did pretty good. Happy?"

"I'm never happy." Shikamaru responded dully.

Only a couple groups in the crowd weren't unanimously cheering and to Hiashi's ire, the Hyuuga were one of them. Most of the clan sat there stoically, apparently unfazed by the surprising victory.

"Father, Naruto-ni-san was amazing!" Hanabi shouted as she alone among the clan clapped excitedly.

Hiashi smiled downed at his youngest daughter. "Yes. He did an incredible job. Wouldn't you agree, elder?" Hiashi turned his smile to the old man who he had been talking to earlier.

The older man grunted. "He did alright. I've seen more impressive."

"Oh?" Hiashi's smile turned into more of a smirk. "You've seen a rookie genin flood an entire arena before this?"

The old man let out a huff before he glared at Hiashi. "Do you still have time to be thinking about the last match? Your daughter is about to fight possibly the most talented Hyuuga to have ever been born. If she loses do you know the detrimental effect it could have on our clan's image?"

"I think you worry too much. Hinata won't disappoint anyone." Hiashi didn't bother to call the elder out on his topic change.

"I'm just saying, even if she has to activate Neji's seal, it better be done." The elder let his words hang in the air.

Hiashi didn't give him a response this time. Instead he stared off into the contestant area where his daughter was.

"Stay still, Naruto." Lee ordered as he stood over his teammate. "This is going to hurt."

"I-I changed my mind, don't do it!" Naruto attempted to scurry away but it was too late. Lee snapped Naruto's nose back into place with an audible snap. "Gah!" Naruto howled in pain. "Damn it Bushy Brow, I said no!" Naruto had tears leaking out of his eyes from the pain.

"It was for your own good, Naruto-kun." Hinata rubbed his back as she attempted to soothe him. "You're lucky it wasn't actually broken and just snapped out of place."

"Plus, you did not plan to fight me with a messed up nose, did you?" Lee asked as he looked down at his teammate.

"I doubt it would have mattered." Naruto grumbled.

"You would do better to forfeit anyways. You are out of chakra." Neji said stoically from the corner he stood in.

"What was that?" Naruto glared at the cold Hyuuga boy.

"By fighting Lee you will only take energy from him that he would be better off storing for a battle with me." Neji seemed to think for a moment before continuing. "Not that it really matters, Lee can't beat me anyways."

"You have not even fought Hinata yet. You cannot say for sure that you will win." Lee smiled sadly at his old teammate. He seemed to have gotten even colder than before.

Neji scoffed. "I am a genius. My victory is guaranteed by fate."

"Oh yeah?" Naruto rose to his feet and pointed dramatically at Neji. "Then what about Sasuke and Tenten. Weren't they considered geniuses too?"

"They got too soft. They looked at weaklings like you as friends and that clouded their judgment. Neither you nor Hinata-sama would have won if it wasn't for that. Lee is the only one of you three that rightfully got this far."

"You're really starting to piss me off." Naruto took a step towards him but he felt both his teammates put a hand on him. "What? Come on!" He protested loudly.

"Leave it for the arena, Naruto." Lee smiled brightly at him. "If you want to have a crack at him you have to get through me first. Do not forget he has to actually manage to beat Hinata too."

Naruto clucked his teeth loudly. "If he has to fight Hinata than I guess I won't ever get the chance."

"Heh." Neji chuckled quietly. "That failure won't even touch me."

"Say that again!" Naruto shouted loudly. He was moments from tackling Neji to the ground.

"That failure…"

"The next match between Hyuuga Neji and Hyuuga Hinata will begin in five minutes! Could those two please report to the arena floor?" Hayate's shout interrupted Neji.

"Well, I guess this will have to wait 'til later." Neji calmly walked towards the railing. Normally he would take the stairs to get down but Naruto had flooded that section of the arena. He grabbed onto the railing and vaulted over without another word.

"Hinata…kick his ass." Naruto seethed as he stared at the spot Neji had just been in.

Hinata smiled sadly at her boyfriend. "I'll do my best, Naruto-kun." She too walked to the railing and jumped over the ledge. She was surprised by how far Naruto had filled the arena with water. She didn't even fall half the distance as before which meant it was actually quite full.

"Your teammate is an idiot, what a waste of chakra." Neji was walking away from Hinata as he spoke.

"Naruto-kun is not an idiot…he just overdoes it sometimes." Hinata attempted to defend her boyfriend. Neji shook his head and kept walking until he was in the center of the arena. Hinata followed after him.

"You feeling alright?" Hayate directed his question towards Hinata.

She nodded. "The poison is more or less out of my system. I will be able to fight when you start the match."

"It's not like she would be able to win either way." Neji remarked snidely.

"Do you just enjoy being an ass or are you trying to make me mad so I'll make a mistake?" Hinata asked sharply back.

Neji raised his eyebrows. He had never once heard Hinata talk to him like that. He observed her carefully and was even more surprised to see she meant every word. "You've become a lot different from the shy, meek girl who used to walk around with her head down…but that doesn't change the fact that you are still weak. Quit trying to deceive yourself."

Hinata placed her hand on a scroll at her hip. Her bow appeared in her hand and the quiver of arrows on her back. "I am not deceiving myself. I'm not the same person I used to be, Ni-san."

"Before this gets any farther let me start the match." Hayate took a hesitant step in between the two of them.

They both nodded to his suggestion. Hayate slowly brought his arm into the air. He turned to the crowd to see that they were waiting anxiously for this battle. "Let the fifth match of Konoha's Chunin Exam Tournament…begin!" Hayate dropped his hand and jumped backwards for the fifth time that day.

This time though it was unnecessary. Neither Hyuuga made a move at each other at all. The only noticeable change was their Byakugan's had activated without even forming the seals.

Neji smirked. "How amusing. You actually believe you've changed. Hanging out with all those losers must have put you at ease about your insecurities."

"Why are you this way, Ni-san?" Hinata suddenly asked. Neji's eyes widened in surprise for a fraction of a second before they returned back to normal. Hinata didn't miss it though. "Why are you so bitter? Does the fact that I'm part of the main branch really hurt you that much? You know I look at you as a brother anyways."

"I never said I wanted a sister!" Neji shouted, losing his composure. "You know damned well why I despise you! It's your entire fault! You should have just never been born!"

Hinata closed her eyes sadly for a moment before opening them back up and smiling bitterly at her cousin. "But I was born, Ni-san. Things may have happened and there may be tension within our clan but I fully intend to become the heiress and fix that. I would like it if you would help me." Hinata extended her hand towards him.

Neji took a step back; his arms were shaking in anger. "Don't look at me with those eyes…with that pity. I'm a genius! I don't need your help and I don't need to help anyone!" Neji clenched his fists and broke into a run straight at Hinata.

"I feel sorry for you, Ni-san." Hinata pulled an arrow out of her quiver and fired it instantly. Neji, instead of dodging left or right, dove underwater.

If the action surprised Hinata she didn't show it. This time she pulled out three arrows at once and pointed them down. She fired all three simultaneously into the water.

Neji was surprised to see the arrows flying through the water like it wasn't even there. He let out an unintelligible curse and began spinning. The arrows bounced pointlessly off of the Kaiten.

Hinata fired another set of arrows, this time with explosive tags attached to them. Neji kept spinning. The explosions went off and the water began boiling from the heat and the bubbles began carrying Neji back towards the surface. Soon he broke through and Neji's rotation was slowly coming to a stop.

Just as the chakra barrier faded Hinata fired yet another arrow. Neji was still slowly spinning but caught the arrow with expert precision. His eyes winced slightly as he felt a pain in his shoulder though. "What is this?" He looked at the strange seal inscribed on Hinata's arrow. "You passed your Jyuuken to your arrows? How crafty." Neji threw the arrow to the side before he charged forward again.

Hinata went to fire another arrow but her eyes widened slightly in surprise. Everything became blurry, even to her Byakugan. "Genjutsu…" Hinata had to hand it to Neji, it was very rare to find Genjutsu that could work well even against the Byakugan.

She didn't have time to cancel it out so Hinata decided to borrow her cousin's idea. As soon as Neji swung his Jyuuken forward Hinata quit channeling chakra to her feet and she slipped below the surface like a phantom.

Hinata slipped her bow on her back and immediately cancelled the genjutsu. She turned her head back up but something rising from the bottom of the water caught her attention. She focused on it with her eyes and was surprised to see spikes of earth flying at her.

Hinata wanted to curse. If she swam for the surface, Neji would be there waiting to strike but if she stayed down her she would be skewered by the spikes.

Making up her mind quickly Hinata began swimming towards the surface as fast as she could, right under Neji's feet.

The Hyuuga genius let out a smirk as he saw what Hinata was doing. Just before she got to him he activated his rotation again. He would knock her backwards and right into his jutsu. To his surprise Hinata also began spinning right at that moment too, however due to her moment her Kaiten shot upwards, ramming into Neji's and battering him high into the air while still spinning..

Hinata broke the surface of the water, stopped spinning and immediately did a series of backflips, dodging the earth spikes that burst out of the water. She then grabbed onto her bow and fired her last couple of arrows at Neji.

Neji's rotation deflected them easily and the Hyuuga genius fell to the water unharmed. "You're fighting rather aggressively." Neji observed aloud. "You're making me burn as much chakra as I can as fast as I can…you're trying to tire me out."

Hinata let out a small smile. "It seems to be working at least…I know how taxing the Kaiten can be."

Neji's ever present scowl deepened a little. "However, you're all out of ammo. What do you plan to do now? The only thing you've ever been good at is archery. Hardly a great Shinobi skill. I however have mastered not just our clan's taijutsu but earth ninjutsu and genjutsu as well. I am a complete Shinobi. Far superior to someone like you who only as a couple skills to fall back on."

Hinata's smile became bitter as she stared at her cousin. "It takes more than mastering the three Shinobi arts to become great, Ni-san. You're missing the most important thing."

Neji snorted. "_I'm _missing something? You have the gall to tell me I am the weak one?"

Hinata nodded. "That's right."

Neji glared at his cousin fiercely. "I've had enough of your talk. I'm ending this fight. You made the mistake of standing within range of my divination." Neji shifted his stance and Hinata's eyes went wide.

"There's no way you know that technique…"

Neji smirked at Hinata's surprise. "Hakke Rokujyuyon Sho!" He launched himself forward in a spin.

It was Hinata's turn to smirk though as she formed the ram seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Hinata created a single clone right in front of herself while she took a small leap back.

"Wha-?" It was too late for Neji to stop his attack. His first two strikes landed and the clone let out a victorious smile as she latched herself onto Neji. "Get off me!" Neji shouted as he attempted to throw the clone off of him.

"Juho Soshiken!" The original Hinata shouted as she charged forward with her signature attack. She swung a fist forward, breaking through her clone and nailing Neji right in the stomach.

Neji had never felt a Jyuuken hit like that in his life. He was sent flying backwards where he bounced off the water a couple times. He barely managed to keep himself above the surface. "W-what a technique…" Neji coughed blood as he kneeled on the ground. "…damn it."

He stumbled to his feet but the sound of approaching steps caught his attention. Hinata was charging at him, her technique blazing strongly. Neji quickly ducked under Hinata's newest strike. He fell back into his Jyuuken stance and began deflecting Hinata's blows the best he could while attempting to mix in his own.

"She's mopping the floor with him!" Naruto cheered as he watched Hinata swing with all her might at her cousin.

"Something's not right though." Lee observed aloud.

"What do you mean?" Naruto looked at Lee for a brief second before he turned back.

"Hinata is not fighting like she normally does. She is going all out, trying to push Neji as far as she can. To be honest, she is wasting a lot of chakra doing it."

"Isn't that the point?" Naruto failed to see his teammate's concern.

"…maybe you are right." Lee relented. "That poison must still be effecting her slightly though. She is normally much faster than this."

"She'll overcome that no problem!" Naruto turned back to cheering. "Go Hinata!"

Hinata deflected Neji's Jyuuken with an elbow and threw another chakra enhanced punch. Neji stepped lightly to the side and swung his own palm forward. Again and again they swung at each other, deflecting blows and trying to counter. Neither one was getting very far however.

Finally, Hinata jumped back and put some distance between them. Her justu dribbled out of existence and she was left panting loudly. Neji let out his own tired grin. "Your impatience has cost you. You've about sacrificed all of your chakra. I still have plenty left to fight on however."

Hinata shook her head. "I don't need my chakra to keep going." As she said this her Byakugan switched off. She then settled into a goken fighting stance.

"You can't be serious? What do you plan to accomplish with that?" Neji scowled at his cousin. "You may have gotten a few lucky hits before by putting all your tricks into it but it has cost you! This fight is as good as mine!" Neji charged forward.

Hinata ran forward as well. She jumped and delivered a high spinning kick which Neji blocked with his forearm. Before Hinata could land properly, Neji caught her right in the chin with a Jyuuken strike sending her crashing to the surface of the water. She stumbled up to her feet but Neji was already there, blowing another strong strike into her stomach.

Hinata gave a heavy cough of blood as she stumbled backwards a couple steps. "This is what you get for thinking you could rely on normal taijutsu. Your Jyuuken style is mediocre at best, what possibly made you think you could win with that style?"

Hinata gave Neji a bloody smile. "You know what it is you lack Neji?"

Neji scoffed. "That again? Fine, tell me what it is I lack."

Hinata gave another cough, spraying blood into the water before she was able to look up and answer Neji's question. "You lack the ability to believe in yourself."

Neji narrowed his eyes. "I don't believe in myself?" Hinata shook her head. "You've got to be kidding me. As if that has anything to do with it. No matter how much you believe you cannot change what fate has engraved."

"That's my point, Ni-san." Hinata interjected. "You blame everything that happens in life on fate. You hide behind it."

Neji clenched his fists tightly. "Watch the way you use your words…Hinata-_sama_." He practically spit the honorific.

"There it is again. You hate me because I was born to the man born just seconds ahead of your father."

"Don't bring him into this!" Neji roared.

Hinata ignored him. "You think your father wanted you to be this way? Bitter and clinging to the family way? You try so hard to play the victim but how do you think I felt? I was the heiress yet I was weak! I couldn't even beat my own little sister. That has changed though and do you know why, Ni-san?"

"I don't care!" Neji shouted as he ran forward. He sent a full charged Jyuuken right into Hinata's chest, knocking her off her feet and onto the water. She hacked up more blood but the resolve still in her eyes spoke so strongly Neji stopped.

"It changed because I believe in myself." She said quietly. "At one point I may have sympathized with your fate theory but now I know it is nothing more than just an excuse you hide behind." Hinata stumbled back to her feet. "You don't have to be this way, Ni-san. Let others help you. Let me help you."

Neji grit his teeth so hard he could hear them grinding against each other. "I don't need your help." He seethed. "So get off your damned high horse and fight this battle!" Neji swung another Jyuuken strike forward. Hinata caught Neji's arm by pinning it against her upper arm and body.

"I'm fighting it with everything I got!" She shouted back as her fist drilled into Neji's stomach. She then jumped in the air and delivered a powerful spinning kick that connected with Neji's cheek.

Neji spun around a couple times but steadied himself. Without even waiting he charged forward. Hinata was already running to meet him.

"I'm ending this!" Neji shouted as he brought his palm back. Hinata didn't respond as she pulled her own fist back. They both swung forward, their hands passing by each other as they flew. Hinata's fist connected with Neji's face while his Jyuuken hit her hard in the gut.

Neji stumbled backwards while nursing his face while Hinata doubled back over. She hacked up even more blood.

"Damn it…I didn't want to have to do this but if you're going to be this stubborn I'm going to have to rely on ninjutsu." Neji formed a seal.

"No…" Hinata shook her head as she stumbled back up.

Neji looked at her in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"I mean you don't have to go that far, it's okay Ni-san." Hinata turned to the proctor.

"I give up."

"What?" Neji asked. A quiet murmur in the crowd quickly repeated what he just asked.

"Hiashi…what is she doing?" The elder mumbled. To his surprise, the clan head was smiling.

Hayate nodded his head to Hinata. "The winner is Hyuuga Neji!"

"Wait a second!" Naruto bellowed but it was too late. He had hit the water and was running at full force towards them. Lee wasn't far behind. "Hinata! Why?"

"It's been fifteen minutes." Hinata answered simply.

"Huh?" Naruto made a confused look.

"Can you feel the red chakra?" Hinata asked.

Naruto, still looking confused, thought about it for a second. "Actually…I can." Realization then dawned on his face. "Wait, you fought just long enough to give me time to recover?"

Hinata nodded. "I never intended to win. I just needed to buy you the time you needed so you could give it your all."

"Then everything you sprouted earlier was just a trick for time?" Neji shouted furiously.

Hinata turned to him and shook her head. "I meant every word of what I said. I had planned to talk to you about it sooner or later anyways."

Neji glared at her. "So the only reason you fought me at all was so you could give your boyfriend some extra rest time?"

"That's right." Hinata responded blatantly.

"But, Hinata…you could have bought us time and still have managed to won." Naruto tried to sound irritated, but the fact that Hinata had fought just for him made that hard.

Hinata shook her head. "If you hadn't needed the time I would have forfeited right away."

Lee bushy brow's furrowed. "You don't think you could have won?"

This time Hinata just shrugged. "I'm not sure if I could win if I tried. The truth is, I forfeited because I was afraid of winning."

"What?" All three of them asked at once.

"Fighting either of you is the most painful thing I can imagine. I would rather forfeit my match and not get promoted to Chunin than have to fight either of you."

"Hinata…" Naruto stared at her with wide eyes. He then took a couple steps forward and wrapped her in a hug. "…thank you. For the time you bought me. I'll make good use of it."

Hinata smiled and returned the hug. She didn't need to say anything more.

A series of aww's broke out from across the stadium. Lee smiled happily at the two of them.

"Tch, Disgusting." Neji turned on his feet and began walking back towards the Genin box. "What a waste of my time."

"That's just so cute!" Ino had hearts in her eyes as she stared down at the two of them.

"Man! I actually thought she was going to win that one too!" Kiba shouted loudly, breaking Ino from her trance to glare at him.

"She fought hard for her love and all you can say is 'oh, damn she lost!' How despicable!" Ino shouted at the dog owner.

"Ino, quit screaming in my ear." Shikamaru pushed Ino back down into her seat.

"It was a rather surprising twist, though." Choji mumbled as he began digging around for more chips.

"Not all that surprising in hindsight though." Sakura shook her head. "She truly is a great person. I really envy Hinata."

"Envy?" Shino's voice actually showed a little surprise.

"Yeah, to be able to love someone like that where you can do things like what she just did for him. And then to have that love reciprocated and get a hug in front of the whole audience." Sakura let out a dreamy sigh.

"Girls…" Kiba muttered.

The other guys, even Akamaru, nodded in agreement.

"Hiashi, I think you need to talk your daughter about this…" The elder muttered darkly.

"I think you need to not stick your nose into other people's matters. Hinata is free to do as she pleases. She is a Konoha Kunoichi and I respect her decision." Hiashi glared so hard at the elder that he had no choice but to back down for now.

Hanabi meanwhile was smiling obliviously at Naruto and Hinata. "You think I'll get as lucky as Onee-chan?" She asked aloud.

Hiashi patted her head. "That'll be pretty hard but I think you'll manage somehow."

Hanabi nodded happily. "I can't wait."

Hiashi could disagree there though. Hinata was one thing since she had got Naruto, however if he had his way, Hanabi would be well into her twenties before he even let a guy look at her the wrong way.

"Where is she going?" Temari asked as she watched Hinata turn down the medic team and began walking towards the audience.

"If I would have to guess, I'd say her sensei." Haku answered as he watched Hinata vault her way into the stadium. She was immediately swarmed by a crowd of people who wanted to talk to her.

"Isn't that awesome?" Tazuna asked. "They're like celebrities doing so well in this tournament! I should post that I gave that team their first C-rank mission on my next set of flyers! We'd really be wracking in business then!"

"Dad, you have no shame." Tsunami hung her head.

"Actually, I was just thinking of putting up a sign that they eat at our restaurant every day." Ayame rubbed her hands together greedily. "I could make huge tips."

"I could say that I almost killed them on their first mission!" Haku replied a little too happily.

Temari smacked him in the head again.

Hinata finally broke through the crowd and managed to get up to where Guy and Kakashi were standing.

"Hinata!" Guy shouted happily at his student.

Hinata bowed low to her sensei. "I am sorry, Guy-sensei."

Guy patted her on the back immediately. "Sorry? You did great! You won a match and still put on a great show for your second. Needless to say we were all moved by your words too! The strength to think of others ahead of yourself is a huge plus in becoming a Chunin!"

Kakashi's one eye smiled for him as he looked down at Hinata. "I also extend my thanks. While it may not have been much, you broke through Neji's armor a little. It could be an important first step in making him understand the importance of teamwork."

"However, this also means we are all tied up, Guy." Kakashi turned to his rival now.

Guy broke into loud laughter. "As if something like that concerns me! Lee or Naruto, one of them will win this tournament yet!"

"We'll see about that." Kakashi turned his one eye down to the stadium where Naruto and Lee were doing a series of stretches as they warmed-up for the final match.

"You feeling alright for this, Bushy Brow?" Naruto asked as he stretched his legs from side to side. "You got knocked around pretty bad by that Dosu kid."

Lee let out a loud laugh as he bent himself backwards and then forwards. "It is I who am concerned about you! Sasuke-kun not only smacked you around but you managed to completely drain your chakra when you flooded this arena."

"No problem at all!" Naruto pounded his chest proudly. "My chakra reserves are incredible and they've already replenished quite a bit!"

"Heh, it sounds like we will have a good match with both of us able to give it our all." Lee finished his stretches and walked towards his teammate. He extended his hand forward. "Even if you win and get to fight Neji you are still my best friend."

Naruto grinned and clasped Lee's hand in his. "Same to you! Let's show this crowd what it really means to be a genius of hard work!"

"Yosh! Now I am pumped!" They broke their handshake and both jumped backwards. "Whenever you are ready, proctor."

Hayate gave a cough as he nodded his head. He stepped forward and raised his arm. "Let the sixth match…begin!"

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto immediately formed seven clones this time instead of the usual three. Four of them charged forward without hesitation.

"So you are finally taking this tournament seriously." Lee cracked his knuckles as the four clones reached him. Two jumped in the air and attacked high. Meanwhile, the other two were swinging low.

Lee stepped to the side and knocked the fist of the first airborne clone out of the way. It went tumbling past him. Spinning around he caught the second airborne clone in the face with a powerful kick. The two grounded clones jumped at him at the same time. Lee jumped and performed a front flip over them, bringing both of his feet down on top of their heads and kicking off towards the other set of clones.

"Suiton: Mizurappa no Jutsu!" Naruto and his clones stood in a straight line. The inner two had inhaled deeply and breathed out a powerful jet of water that flew right at Lee. Meanwhile, the two outer clones swung the chakra blades they were holding.

"That has no chance of hitting me!" Lee shouted as he continued to charge forward. The jet streams reached him but he easily battered them aside with brute force. He then jumped in the air and made the motion of someone performing a pole vault. While the audience couldn't see it, Lee had just barely dodged the blades of wind from both above and below.

He landed nimbly on the water but before he could charge any father he felt a pair of hands lock onto his ankles. "What?" Lee looked down just in time to see three more Narutos burst out of the water. A forth one was holding onto him. "You actually created eleven clones but four of them were underwater!" Lee was surprised by Naruto's cunning tactic.

"That's right!" The four Narutos Lee had battered away earlier were right behind him. He was surrounded.

"Guess it is time I show my worth!" Lee put his hands out top of the water. He swung his feet upwards, pulling the clone that was latched onto him out of the water.

"Oh, crap!" The clone yelled in surprise as it lost his grip. It went flying into another Naruto. They both disappeared below the water with a loud splash.

Lee flipped himself so he was back on his feet and grabbed the first clone that swung at him. He spun around and threw it into another two, bowling them all over. "Naruto clone hammer!" Lee turned around and grabbed onto the feet of the Naruto that was being swung around.

"I am familiar with that trick, Naruto!" Lee pulled so hard that he picked the other Naruto up with the first and he threw them both. They both went flying into the audience, crashing into the seats that had just been occupied moments before.

The last clone dove forward and latched onto Lee, pinning his arms to his side. "Got you now!" Lee saw a swirling drill made of both water and air flying at him. "Naruto Typhoon no Jutsu!"

Lee gave a small smile. "Naming a technique after yourself, how full of youth!" Lee broke free from the clones grip with ease. He then chamber kicked it back into the drill where it was instantly popped. Lee jumped to the side and then realized he had made a mistake. A second drill made of both wind and water broke free from the surface just in front of him.

Lee did something that surprised everyone, including himself. With a mighty shout, he thrust his hands forward and grabbed onto the drill before it reached him. He didn't stop the drill completely; instead it forced him backwards, his feet skidding across the water.

Lee let out another loud bellow. "I will not let this technique hit me!" His arms were vibrating heavy as he struggled to hold onto the powerful drill attack that was bringing him ever closer into a wall. Lee grit his teeth and while still yelling he pushed the technique upwards with all his might. The drill shifted and flew skywards, spinning magnificently high before it withered away to nothing.

Lee stood panting heavily. Unfortunately he had no time to recover. The seven clones he had thrown aside were up and charging again. "This is getting me nowhere." Lee mumbled to himself out loud. "If I did not have to fight both ninjutsu and taijutsu at the same time this would be no problem."

He looked to the four clones that were using the ninjutsu. The ones using the blades combined their technique with the ones using water and another two drills were on their way.

"What would Guy-sensei do?" Lee asked aloud. The seven clones left using taijutsu were almost on him yet Lee's eyes were closed as he thought. Suddenly his eyes shot open. "I got it! I shall also attack with both the elements and my fists!" He nodded happily to himself.

"What are you talking about?" The first clone asked as it swung. To his surprise Lee completely vanished.

"I shall show you!" All seven clones spun around to see Lee had appeared a distance behind them, placing him in between the clones and the typhoon technique.

"Get ready for Lee Typhoon no Jutsu!" Lee shouted.

"That's copyright infringement!" One of the clones shouted.

Lee didn't listen. He was spinning in place at high speeds. The water at his feet immediately shot upwards flowing around Lee in a spiral until it towered high in the air. Naruto's technique slammed into the miniature typhoon Lee had just created but both drills were battered away pointlessly by the high velocity of the water.

"Damn it, that thing is acting like Hinata's Kaiten!" Naruto yelled in exasperation.

"But it shall prove more effective, because with my awesome skill, I shall now move it!" Lee appeared just outside of his technique, already in the process of delivering a powerful kick. His foot smashed into the typhoon and it went flying at the Narutos that had been using ninjutsu.

"He kicked it!" Naruto and most of the crowd shouted as their mouths hit the floor. The clones that had been using ninjutsu were so shocked that they let themselves get sucked into the typhoon and sent flying into the air. All four of them popped out of existence. Lee's attack then hit the wall and it finally dissipated.

"If the original wasn't there, than that means he was with the taijutsu group." Lee turned and charged at the remaining seven Narutos.

Naruto and his clones finally regained their senses and also ran forward. "Change of plan, everyone gang up on him!" The original shouted. A cry of agreement rang from the rest as they all jumped at Lee at the same time.

"Konoha Senpu!" Lee shouted as he battered away three of them with one swing of his foot. He let out a loud laugh. "This reminds me when we first sparred the day you became a part of this team!"

"I've grown a lot since then!" Naruto shouted as he threw a clone forward. It latched onto Lee with all his might. "I had to rely on Hinata to beat you with your weights, but this time I'm fighting toe to toe with you when you're not wearing them!"

Lee again broke free from the clones hold. He shoved it back into the clone directly in front of him. Just two Narutos were left charging and they came running from the left and right.

"You have indeed grown." Lee smiled as he recollected on the past. Naruto had charged at him with a hundred clones and hadn't got anywhere close until Hinata had stepped in. This time though Naruto was using twelve and holding his own.

He quickly shook himself from his thoughts fast enough to catch the fist of the Naruto on the left. He was just about to bring his foot up to kick the one on the right when the other Naruto quit channeling chakra. He dropped into the water pulling Lee partially down with him and throwing the taijutsu specialist off balance.

"Got'cha!" Naruto's fist connected with Lee's exposed chin and the boy went spinning backwards. He barely managed to land on his feet.

Blood slowly slipped from his cracked lip and Lee wiped it away with his thumb. He then looked down at the bloodstain on his finger. "You actually got me…"

"Huh?" Naruto looked up in surprise. After punching Lee he had pulled his other clone out of the water. The other five were also slowly recovering and lining up with the original.

"That is the first time you ever managed to hit me when we were fighting just with taijutsu." Lee clarified and Naruto seemed to mull the thought over.

Suddenly he brightened up. "You're right! I got you! This feels awesome!" Naruto and all his clones began giving one another high fives.

"I guess this means it is about time I step it up a notch myself." Lee slowly spread his legs out and brought his arms up.

"Finally resorting to the gates, huh?" Naruto smirked as he and his clones took up their stances.

"First Gate: Open!" Lee bellowed. He vanished not even a second later a reappeared with his arm completely through the chest of one of Naruto's clones. He gave a cough of blood before vanishing in smoke.

"What the hell if that was me?" Naruto looked horrified at the brutal way he had just watched his clone go out.

"You have not been doing a good job of hiding which one is the real one, Naruto." Lee smiled as he turned to his friend. "Normally you are much better about it but you are lax with me because I am your teammate."

"Tch, damn." Naruto just realized Lee was right. He had dropped his guard because he was used to sparring with Lee. He was now down to five clones, so six Narutos. That was only half of what he started with a Lee had just finally opened only the first of the gates. It was time to step things up. "You three with me!" Naruto shouted as he and three clones ran forward. They all pulled out chakra blades as they ran.

Meanwhile, the two clones in the back began running through seals again. "I will not let you complete anymore Suiton." Lee was behind them both, one hand on either head. With a violent crack, he smashed their heads together and they both vanished.

"Shit, attack now!" Naruto and his clones turned and they all fired a blade of wind at Lee at the same time.

"Second Gate: Open!" Lee vanished even faster than before. He appeared over top of the real Naruto.

"Kawarimi no Jutsu!" Naruto switched himself out with his clone in time by not even a second. Lee's foot slammed into the head of the clone so hard that he created a massive splash. Again, water was sent spraying into the crowd. The remaining three Narutos rode the wave created by Lee's kick in order to get more distance between themselves and the powerful Genin.

"You were smart in using that technique, Naruto." Lee acknowledged loudly. "Now I am not sure which one is the real you and will be forced to pull my punches."

"That's the idea!" All three Narutos shouted at once. "You wouldn't want to kill me after all!"

"I do know though…" One Naruto felt a shiver go down his back as Lee's voice came from right behind him. "…that you are trying to stall for time. You know that I can only keep the gates open for thirty seconds at a time at the most and have to open another to keep fighting." The clone never got to respond as it was blasted into the wall by Lee's powerful fist. It popped immediately after.

"Just two left." Lee turned and saw the water splitting from either side as blades of wind tore through it on their way to him. "Third Gate: Open!" Lee vanished and appeared next to one of the last remaining Narutos, his fist drilling into his face without preamble. The clone immediately popped without being able to go anywhere.

Lee turned his attention to the last Naruto standing just as a powerful red aura erupted from his body. Lee had to keep himself from letting out a whistle. He had never felt Naruto release this much energy when tapping into the Kyuubi no Yoko.

"No more holding back, Bushy Brow!" Naruto disappeared and reappeared right in front of Lee's face with his fist extended. It was so fast that Lee didn't even get a chance to raise his arms in defense as the attack nailed him in the face. Lee was sent flying backwards and right into the wall.

"Heh, now that was a youthful punch." Lee stepped away from the wall and straightened himself up. "Fourth Gate: Open!" He shouted. A second later and he vanished. Naruto disappeared at the same time.

They both appeared in the center of the arena. Their fists forward. They clashed into each other and a powerful shockwave was blown across the arena and into the crowd. Waves were rolling and splashing and the people in the front seats quickly retreated in fear.

Naruto and Lee vanished into a different location, again throwing punches. Each time their fists connected another shockwave followed.

"Just what the hell kind of battle is this?" Temari shouted as she shivered from the latest blast of energy. "This isn't something two Genin should be capable of!"

"No kidding!" Tazuna yelled as he watched in worry as the two fought. "How can they be so hard on each other, they're friends."

Ayame felt herself smile despite the fact that another tremor just blew by them. "This is just the type of friendship those two idiots have."

"That doesn't make sense." Tsunami chewed nervously on the nail of her thumb as she watched. "I would think they were bitter enemies with this kind of brutal match."

"That's because you can't see them." Haku was also smiling as his eyes expertly tracked their movements. "While they're both serious about this battle and want to win, every time they trade a blow they're smiling at each other."

"Smiling?" Inari asked in disbelief.

Haku nodded. "Smiling just like a couple of idiots."

"Fifth Gate: Open!" Lee roared just before he ran out of time on his last gate.

"Looks like I have to step it up too." Naruto's red chakra flared up even stronger than before. The two boys vanished yet again and smashed their fists into each other with full force.

Naruto and Lee both reappeared at another location just a second later. Naruto swung his fist with all his might and this time, to his surprise, he was just a little bit faster than Lee. His fist buried into his friend's chest…

…only for his fist to go right through him.

"An afterimage?" Naruto realized he let himself be fooled. Before he could move again he felt Lee's foot smash into the side of his face.

Naruto rocketed across and slammed into the wall not even a second later, creating a giant crack in the side of it, allowing for water to slowly begin leaking out. Before Naruto could recover Lee was there again. His foot slammed into the top of his head, sending him crashing into the ground below the water.

Naruto stepped himself up but Lee was already there, his elbow drilling into his chin. Naruto was sent flying back towards the surface. He broke free from the water and continued on even higher.

Lee appeared once more. "Ura Renge!" He bellowed as his fist slammed into his friend. Naruto slammed into the water yet again this time creating a huge tidal wave that flowed into the crowd knocking many of them over and slamming them up against their seats. The crack in the wall that had appeared earlier gave way and what water was left drained out of the stadium and flooded the streets of Konoha.

Lee landed on the ground. The water that was left only went up to his ankles now. Naruto slowly picked himself back up.

"Not bad Bushy Brow…but when I'm using this much chakra that hardly felt like anything." Naruto grinned but then cringed and hacked up a great deal of blood. "Alright…so it hurt a little but not enough to put me down. You're almost out of time too. This battle is about to be mine."

"You should not count your chickens before they hatch, Naruto." Lee changed his stance yet again. "Sixth Gate: Open!" Naruto's eyes went wide in surprise as yet even more power burst forth from his teammate.

"Heh, if you can go that far then I guess I've got no choice but to use my ultimate technique." All the chakra surrounding Naruto immediately began to rush to his hands. In a matter of seconds both hands were covered by two red fox heads made entirely of chakra. "Juho Kitsuneken!"

"Hiashi…that technique!" The elder pulled lightly on Hiashi's sleeve.

The clan Head could only nod dumbfounded. "That is exactly like one of our techniques…the one Hinata uses most."

"Guy!" Kakashi shouted, suddenly furious. "He can't really plan on using such a technique! With that much of the Kyuubi's chakra...tt'll poison Lee's chakra system!"

"It actually isn't a problem." Hinata was the one to speak up. "Naruto-kun cannot see the chakra system. He is capable of dumping chakra into another's body by simply overloading the chakra in his fist, forcing the excess through someone's chakra points when his fist connects."

"So how isn't that a problem exactly?" Kakashi understood what Hinata was saying but it still didn't help Lee.

"Lee is special." Guy continued for her. "His chakra coils and points are too small. The Kyuubi's chakra could never squeeze into such a small space making Lee invulnerable to such an attack."

"…Then why is Naruto using it at all?" Kakashi deadpanned.

"It is still a powerful punch, all that malevolent chakra stored into two points." Hinata once again continued to answer. "While the chakra poisoning will not take effect, the physical damage will still be high."

Kakashi nodded slowly. "Wait a minute though…Lee just opened up the Sixth Gate. Surely he doesn't intend to use Asa Kujaku?"

Guy broke into laughter. "Unfortunately I didn't have time to teach Lee that technique…however, that didn't stop him from coming up with a special attack of his own."

At that moment Kakashi felt a sudden heat erupt from the center of the arena. He turned to see Lee had sprout two fiery wings on his back. "Asa Kujaku: Version Two!"

Kakashi wanted to hit himself in the face. "What is that going to do?"

"When Lee flaps those giant majestic wings he shall shoot forward at speeds so great the ground will shake!" Guy bellowed at the top of his lungs.

"In other words he uses the propulsion from the wings for a super enhanced punch." Hinata clarified her sensei's words.

Kakashi shook his head. "What a disastrous final stand."

"Guess this is it, huh Bushy Brow?" Naruto gave his friend a feral grin.

Lee nodded and returned a weary smile. "It has been the most youthful fight I have ever fought, Naruto."

"Let's go!" They both shouted at the same time. They vanished and reappeared in front of each other, their fists swinging forward. They grazed just past each other.

Lee's fist slammed into Naruto's face and Naruto's fist…

…stopped just short of Lee's face.

The whole crowd watched in complete silence. Lee's wings extinguished themselves and the chakra on Naruto's hands slowly faded away.

Lee slowly pulled his fist back but Naruto didn't fall. "Damn it…" Naruto slowly lowered his fist and stumbled forward. He fell against Lee who stood tall and supported his friend's body.

"Damn it…" Naruto's face was buried in Lee's chest and came out muffled. "I lost…just because I was shorter than you. Guess I really should have drunk my milk."

Naruto slipped to his knees. He then fell sideways and rolled so he was laying down on his back. "Bushy Brow…no, Lee. Kick Neji's ass."

Lee gave Naruto the biggest smile he could. "You got it…Naruto."

"The winner is Rock Lee!" Hayate announced loudly.

Without any hesitation the crowd erupted into the loudest set of cheering yet. Most of them were soaked but that only seemed to increase the vigor at which they yelled.

"Guy-sensei, I'll be right back." Hinata immediately began to take off down the stairs. They had been part of the only people not to get soaked by water.

"Hinata!" Guy shouted and she turned around. "Tell them both that I'm proud of them…I'm proud of all three of you. You guys are the greatest students a man could ask for."

Hinata nodded happily before she continued running towards the arena.

Neji shook his head while he smirked. "Those idiots went all out. This tournament is as good as mine."

"Then I don't suppose you'll mind helping me out for a while would you?" Neji's eyes widened in surprise. He turned around but before he could do anything a man grabbed him by the throat. "It won't take long, I promise." Kabuto smiled evilly.

Hinata hit the floor of the arena and ran up to both of her teammates. "Lee-senpai! Naruto-kun!" She was surprised to see that no medics had run out yet to check up on either of them.

"Hinata!" Lee waved happily. He took a couple steps towards her but stumbled slightly. "Guess opening all those gates was not a bright move."

"Is Naruto-kun okay?" Hinata asked worriedly.

"…My pride hurts a little." Naruto mumbled, clearly still conscious. "I guess not being able to move is a problem too."

Hinata couldn't decide whether to giggle or sigh in relief. If he was able to make jokes than he would probably be up again in no time.

The sound of footsteps caught her attention. She turned to see Neji standing there. She had been hoping it would have been a medic. She saw something that immediately concerned her though. Neji was holding a kunai.

Hayate slowly walked forward. "There is going to be a half hour between matches so you can go rest a little longer if you want."

Neji, slowly and robotically turned his head towards the proctor. His mouth slowly opened. "R-run…it's a trap." The four of them widened their eyes in surprise but no one was able to react quickly enough. Neji threw the kunai at Hayate and just before it reached the proctor it transformed into Kabuto.

Hayate had no time to react as Kabuto delivered a kick so powerful that it sent the Jonin flying straight out of the giant hole in the wall Naruto and Lee had created earlier. He then raised his arm into the air and snapped his fingers.

The edges of the arena started glowing a strange purple light. The light shot skywards, temporary blinding everyone. Then, the light turned completely black and it looked like a giant tower suddenly erected itself from the arena, making it impossible for anyone to see inside.

Kabuto turned and looked at the other four occupants of the barrier he had just created. He gave another evil smile.

"Let's get this show on the road."


	26. Invasion Part 1

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_Invasion (Part 1)_

* * *

Most of the crowd sat in stunned silence as they stared at the giant black tower that had appeared in front of them. Just moments ago they had been cheering like crazy for what had been the most heated battle of the tournament yet. Now…they simply didn't know what to think.

Guy however, was not one to sit idle. "Lee, Hinata, Naruto!" He was off towards the tower faster than lightning.

"Guy, wait!" Kakashi screamed but his rival was already gone.

Guy appeared in front of the giant barrier, his fist pulled back, ready to deliver a powerful punch. "No you don't!" Zabuza shouted as he appeared behind the Jonin and latched himself onto him.

"Let me go!" Guy shook him off. "My students are in there!"

Just then several explosions bounced off the arena as the ANBU appeared. A couple of them smashed into the barrier and they suddenly caught fire and tumbled towards the crowd. All the other Jonin who had just been on the move paused as well. "You see!" Zabuza shouted. "This isn't an ordinary barrier!"

"Zabuza's right." Kakashi landed next to them. "It's dangerous. Let's get up to Hokage-sama. He'll know what to do." Guy nodded. All three Jonin vanished an instant later.

Meanwhile the crowd finally seemed to realize what was going on. Panic was quickly spreading and they were trying to flee the stadium.

"What the heck is going on?" Temari asked as she watched people fleeing by her.

"I'm not sure." Haku shook his head and turned to the others that were with them. "We need to get you guys out of here though. The village may be under attack."

"A-attack?" Tazuna shouted in horror.

"Can we even get out of here without being trampled?" Ayame asked skeptically.

Haku smiled. "We're Shinobi, we'll get you out."

* * *

While all this had gone on, the Kabuto who stood next to the Hokage gave a small victorious smile. "Looks like you didn't catch me in time." He had no time to move as his limbs were bound by a wood technique.

"You bastard…" Yamato seethed as he stared with complete loathing at the man. He wanted to crush the life out of him right on the spot.

"What did you do?" The Hokage asked gravely as he walked up behind the bound man.

"I created a barrier that also acted as a signal." Kabuto answered as if he had been expecting the question.

Sarutobi turned his gaze to the black tower. It went impossibly high into the air so it was definitely visible for miles. That meant an enemy army was likely already at their gates. He had to think fast.

Not even a moment later and all kinds of Jonin and Chunin began to appear around him. They were crowded incredibly close together on the tight space of the roof of the stadium. Hayate appeared bowed in front of him. "I apologize, Hokage-sama!" His cough wasn't present at all. "I let the enemy catch me off guard!"

Sarutobi nodded down at him. He didn't have much time to waste with words so instead he turned his attention to Kabuto. "What are your intentions?"

Kabuto gave a restricted shrug. "Just think of this as an experiment to provide me with some amusement."

"You won't escape with your life!" Guy shouted as he took a step forward. "The second we bring that barrier down your life is forfeit!"

Kabuto chuckled. "You better hurry than. If you open it too late I'll be the least of your worries." Everyone's eyes widened and they turned back to the barrier. Naruto was in there…which meant only one thing.

"You bastard…" Guy had to restrain every muscle in his body to keep from destroying the man in front of him.

"That's enough, Guy!" The Hokage shouted. "I need all the Jonin and Chunin to report to the front gate immediately to back them up for an invasion!" The Hokage turned to a Chunin who was kneeling on the roof. "Get the best Shinobi from our Barrier branch here now! I want them to begin breaking that thing down immediately! All Jonin-sensei gather your Genin and have them begin to evacuate the civilians! Their safety is a top priority!"

"Sir!" Everyone shouted as they all fled about to perform their assigned tasks. The only Konoha Shinobi left around the Hokage were Hiashi, Kakashi, Yamato, Guy, Hayate and Zabuza.

Just then a Chunin who had been stationed at the gate landed in front of Hokage.

"Hokage-sama! We're under attack!" He shouted.

"How many of them are there?" He asked immediately. "How long can you keep them from breaching the gates?"

"Sir…" The man hesitated.

"Speak!" Sarutobi didn't have time for this.

"There were at least a couple thousand of them…but they were coming from the sky. Many of them have already flown into the village!" The Hokage's eyes widened. "They set fires everywhere as they traveled. There were more approaching from the forest floor but I didn't stay long enough to get even a rough number."

"Sora Shinobi technology?" Everyone present turned back to Kabuto.

The white haired man broke out into laughter. "Nothing like that, even I'm not capable of locating that old village."

"Hokage-sama!" Hiashi shouted suddenly, his Byakugan was on.

"How are they doing it Hiashi?" The Hokage turned to the Head of the Hyuuga.

"Not they…he." Hiashi blinked a couple times as if to make sure he was seeing things right.

"What is it?" The Hokage's patience was wearing thin.

"There are thousands of them alright, but they're all the same person." Hiashi's voice came out dry.

"Who?" Sarutobi shouted.

"The contestant…"

"…Abumi Zaku."

Just as he uttered those words a couple dozen of said boy came flying overhead. They were propelling themselves forward with the fire that sprayed from their hands. "I'm back bitches!" All of them yelled as their stomachs opened and kunai began firing.

"Hokage-sama, take cover!" Kakashi and Guy shouted as they moved to attack the small fleet overhead.

Sarutobi didn't move an inch from the spot though. Instead he formed a set of seals. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" He breathed out a fireball so massive that it easily was big enough to hit every Zaku overhead…and hit them it did. They were all obliterated to the point that not even ashes remained.

"Not Hokage for nothing, huh?" Kabuto chuckled. "I wonder though how you'll all fair against a group of opponents just as strong as yourself?"

"Silence him." Sarutobi didn't even turn back to Kabuto.

Yamato didn't need to be told twice. He clenched his hand and the wood tightened around Kabuto until he poofed into smoke.

"My orders from before stand the same!" The Hokage shouted. "The civilians are number one priority! I want the all ANBU operatives to engage the Otogakure Shinobi known as Zaku that have infiltrated the village! Remember to watch out for his self destructing ability!" The ANBU nodded and were also off.

"Sir!" Kakashi's voice was heavy with dread. He was up on the roof staring off towards the gates.

Sarutobi jumped up next to him immediately. The sight that befell his eyes made his face go pale.

Many places of the village had already been set ablaze as thousands of the tiny figures that could only be Zaku flew around. Many Shinobi were already engaging the robotic Shinobi as others hurried towards the gates. For it was at the gates that an even more disturbing sight lay.

All around, the gates of Konoha had already fallen. Hundreds of Shinobi garbed in black poured into the village. The most horrendous thing though, was the way in which the gates had been destroyed.

One wall had been completely overrun by giant roots of wood. Another looked like it had been blasted away by a tidal wave. Yet another had been set completely ablaze. The final wall had been battered down by a group of giant snakes.

"This can only mean one thing…" Sarutobi rubbed his temple as he stared at the wreckage. "Hiashi, what is your clan doing?"

"Most of them have joined the battle with your orders." Hiashi answered without missing a beat.

"Excellent, I want you to stay by the barrier so you can protect the barrier squad once they arrive. I am leaving the execution of the traitor, Yakushi Kabuto, to you at the time the barrier is down."

"Yes, sir!" Hiashi was off before anything else could be said.

"Zabuza!"

"I'm already on it, Hokage-sama!" Zabuza took off before anyone else could really be sure of what he had just been assigned.

"Kakashi…I need you to lead the engagement against the enemy at the second gate. Take command there."

Kakashi looked at the Hokage in surprise before he nodded slowly. "Yes, sir!"

"Guy!" Sarutobi shouted.

"The third gate, sir?" Guy had a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Yamato…"

"Sir, you can't expect me to…" Yamato stared in horror at the giant roots that had destroyed the first gate.

"Hayate! I need you to go with him!"

"I won't fail again sir!" Hayate nodded to Yamato who also said nothing more.

Sarutobi turned his head to the giant snakes while he bit down on his thumb hard enough to draw blood. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" A giant monkey suddenly appeared next to him.

A series of protests from the remaining group of Shinobi broke out. "Hokage-sama! You cannot enter the front lines!"

"Silence!" Sarutobi roared. "It is time I take responsibility for my mistake…I thought I could pass it off to the next generation but that was wrong. Monkey King Enma!" Sarutobi extended his hand.

The monkey that stood next to him smirked. "Been a long time since I've seen you this serious, Sarutobi…" The monkey transformed into a staff that Sarutobi swung around a couple of times. "…it's about time."

"For our village!" Sarutobi shouted as he threw his Hokage garments aside revealing Shinobi armor on underneath. He and the remaining Shinobi took off towards their respective gates.

* * *

"What is this?" Lee shouted as he slowly turned himself around, gazing at the black barrier that had them trapped.

"Just a little something that I had set up so we could have a good time without being interrupted." Kabuto chuckled as he pushed his glasses up and walked over to Naruto. "I give you both my thanks. Things would have been much more difficult if you hadn't beaten the Jinchuriki host down so much." Kabuto nudged Naruto in the ribs with his foot.

"Don't touch him!" Hinata shouted. She charged at Kabuto without hesitation. Before she even got close, Neji appeared in her path. Hinata stopped hard. "Ni-san…move." Hinata said carefully.

"I'm sorry, Hinata-sama, I'm not in control of my body." Neji stepped forward and sent a Jyuuken into Hinata's stomach, blasting her off her feet. She landed with a loud splash a couple feet away.

"Hinata!" Lee ran up to her and lifted her up slightly. He then glared at Kabuto. "What did you do to Neji?" Just then he noticed strange black markings appear all over Neji's body.

"I placed a special seal on him." Kabuto said as he bent down and grabbed Naruto by the hair. The blond grit his teeth in pain as the white-haired man hoisted him up. "His body is mine to control with my mind. If you want to stop him you'll have to immobilize him."

"Or kill you." Hinata muttered darkly as she stumbled to her feet.

Kabuto broke into laughter. "If you can." He reached into his back pouch and pulled out a small wooden cross. "Tell me, Naruto-kun, do you know what this is?"

"Go to hell!" Naruto seethed darkly.

Kabuto's wicked smile grew a little bigger. He bent down and planted the small cross in the ground beneath the water he then formed a single one-handed seal. The small cross sprouted smoke and when the smoke cleared the cross was the size of himself. "This is the tool that embodies human sacrifice. This is where the Kyuubi will be extracted from."

Everyone widened their eyes. Before Lee or Hinata could react. Kabuto slammed the back of Naruto's head against the cross. He grabbed one of his hands pinned it up with a kunai right through Naruto's palm. He then grabbed the other hand and pinned it to the other side. Naruto howled in pain each time.

"Naruto-kun!"

"Naruto!" Lee and Hinata ran forward but Neji again stood in the way. "Hinata! You go for him! I'll take care of Neji!" Lee shouted as he lunged forward, tackling Neji to the ground. Hinata ran past them and straight at Kabuto.

"Oh?" Kabuto had to resist the urge to chuckle as Hinata ran up to him. She reached him and swung her Jyuuken but Kabuto knocked the strike aside. Before she could react he buried his foot in her ribs. Hinata was sent rolling to the side.

Lee raised his arm and was about to swing his fist down but he felt a sudden burning sensation in his stomach. He was then sent flying upwards. He crashed down in the shallow water with a loud splash.

Kabuto slowly took a few steps forward. "I'll be with you in a minute, Naruto-kun. I want to have a little fun before I have to get serious."

"Lay another hand on my friends and I'll bite them off." Naruto looked up and his eyes were glowing red. A second later though and he felt something strange. Something was siphoning his power. His red eyes returned back to blue.

Hinata gasped as she stumbled back up. "Naruto-kun! Don't channel the fox's chakra! That thing is stealing it!" She then began to charge back towards him, fully intent on freeing him.

"Please try to refrain from interfering further. You wouldn't even be here if you hadn't run to check on your teammates. What an annoying girl." Kabuto sighed at her. He ran through a couple seals. Whips of water shot up and bound Hinata. She stumbled forward and her face disappeared below the water. She brought it up with a loud gasp and struggled to break free.

"What do you really intend to do here?" Kabuto asked snidely. "You are still severely hurt from fighting your cousin. Even if you weren't I am stronger than most Jonin. You have no chance of changing anything."

"Why are you doing this?" Hinata shouted before her face was dragged under water again. She brought it up coughing and gagging a couple seconds later.

"What is your reason for attacking the village?" Lee was back on his feet nursing his stomach. Neji had yet to attack him again. "I thought that was Orochimaru's goal. Not yours. Is it revenge?"

Kabuto gave a dark chuckle. "Revenge? Nothing as petty as that."

"Then what the hell are you attacking us for?" Naruto was attempting to free his hands but they were only bleeding more freely the more he struggled.

"For science." Everyone there, including Neji raised their eyebrows. "I am a researcher. Everything I do is to further progress my hypothesis. I felt no loyalty towards the Snake Sannin. I followed him simply because he had the resources and the means for me to conduct whatever experiment I needed."

"So what is your hypothesis?" Hinata spit water from her mouth as she yelled.

"Can the village of Konohagakure actually fall?" Kabuto smiled evilly. "Is it possible? This village withstood the strains of the Ninja Wars despite the odds that it should have fallen. It managed to repress an attack by the Kyuubi multiple times. What is it that allowed for that? Was it this so called 'Will of Fire', great leadership, pure luck? I am interested in testing this for myself and seeing the results first hand."

"I think you'll find Fate is against you in your endeavor." Neji clearly could still control his speech.

"Fate? I don't believe in something as half-assed as that." Kabuto roared with laughter. "People don't lose because it was destiny! Science clearly disproves that theory. Now be a good little pawn and quit mouthing such garbage."

Neji grit his teeth as he willed his body to move. No matter how hard he tried though it just wouldn't happen. "Now…" Kabuto continued. "…I heard something interesting. You really intend to fight him the way you are, Lee-kun?" Kabuto smiled as he walked right behind Neji and patted him on the face.

"If it means I am able to get closer to you and save my best friend than I will." Lee slowly slid back into his stance.

"You idiot!" Neji shouted. "You can't beat me!"

Kabuto's cynical smile remained plastered on his face. "Marvelous…there may not be a crowd to watch anymore, but it looks like the show will go on." Kabuto turned sideways. "Proctor, would you mind starting the match…

…oh, that's right. I ejected him. I guess I'll do the honors."

Kabuto took a couple steps backwards and raised his hand into the air. Hinata was still struggling to get free from the water whips and Naruto's hands had finally gone numb from the pain.

"Let the final match of Konoha's Chunin Exam Tournament...begin."

Lee and Neji both charged forward.

* * *

"Just what the hell is going on?" Ino shouted as she and the rest of the remaining rookies stood by the doors as people continued to file out in a panic.

"Didn't you listen to Kurenai-sensei or Asuma-sensei at all?" Shikamaru hated repeating things. "The village is under attack and we have to make sure the civilians get out safely."

"This is so sudden though." Chouji was eating his chips even faster than before. "I felt one surge of chakra but now nothing."

"Well something is coming…" Kiba turned his nose to the sky, sniffing. Akamaru was growling. Just then a dozen Zaku's came flying low, spraying fire and launching kunai.

"What the hell?" All the genin immediately took cover.

"Didn't that guy blow up?" Sakura looked up from behind a chair that she had hid behind. Shino was right by her.

"It would appear he has been mass produced. Much like a toy on an assembly line." Shino's insects were already flying into action. "We must engage them to protect the civilians."

"Us?" Ino shouted from an unknown location.

"Most of the Jonin are gone! Of course it's up to us!" Kiba yelled as Akamaru transformed. "Gatsuga!" He and Akamaru flew at the Zaku's but they dodged out of the way. They then veered back and charged at him.

"Kiba!" Sakura shouted as she quickly formed several seals. The Zaku began to swing around out of control as she placed them under a genjutsu.

"Nice going, Sakura!" Kiba yelled as slammed into the ones flying around drunkenly. "Everyone else hurry up and help!"

"Kiba is right. We got a couple lucky first hits but this man fought toe to toe with the Hyuuga genius." Shino landed next to both his teammate. "We need to team up to take them all down."

"Shino!" Shikamaru shouted. "If you can ground them, do it!" Almost everyone had cleared the arena and now only the Genin and the attacking Zakus were left.

"Acknowledged!" Shino yelled back. His bugs were flying into action, quickly blinding many Zaku. "They don't have an internal chakra source so blinding them is the most I can do!" As he said this three of the Zakus crashed into the ground.

"Kage Mane no Jutsu!" Shikamaru instantly bound them.

"Gatsuga!" Kiba and Akamaru flew at two of them.

"Nikudan Sensha!" Choji was already inflated into a giant ball. He was bouncing down the steps towards the last one. All three of them hit their targets at the same time.

"Move away! Remember they explode!" Shino shouted. Not needed to be reminded twice all three of them cleared the area just as the Zakus went off.

"Shintenshin no Jutsu!" Ino shouted switched into the body of a Zaku that had stopped moving thanks to a genjutsu by Sakura. The body tumbled towards the ground, out of control.

"Body Expansion!" Choji shouted as his arm inflated. He swatted the Zaku into the ground where it exploded a few seconds later.

Ino immediately opened her eyes. "It's crazy!" She shouted running towards Shikamaru.

"What are you talking about?" He looked at her in annoyance. He had sweat rolling down his face as he held onto another couple.

"When I entered his mind I could see the view of all of them at once! They're laying waste to the village!" Ino sounded completely panicked. "We need to get out of here and help them fight!"

"The civilians…" Choji reminded Ino gently. He and Kiba had just destroyed the last couple Zakus that had invaded the arena.

"There aren't any more here! There are plenty out there though! We need to help them!"

"I agree with her!" Kiba stepped forward. "Did you see the way we took care of them? We might be the best six man one dog team force in existence!"

"I also think it would be prudent to lend the others our aide." Shino walked towards them all slowly.

"You need to think about your health, Shino." Sakura suddenly scolded. "You're still not up to full strength since you lost your arm."

"The situation does not give me time to be concerned about such trivial things." Shino adjusted his glasses, clearly irritated at being underestimated.

"We don't have time to argue." Shikamaru scratched his head. "…Let's go." He finally said. "They need our help."

"Yes!" Everyone else chorused in agreement.

* * *

"Zaku!" Dosu yelled as he ran down to streets of Konoha. He had just broken out of the infirmary having seen all the flying forms of the boy who was once teammate. Buildings to his left and right were ablaze, broken glass littered the streets and the only people present were Shinobi that fought from the roofs. "Zaku! What the hell happened to you?"

"Dosu!" Four Zaku landed down gently right in front of him. "I didn't even recognize you without all your face bandages. If I had, I would've tried to kill you instantly!" All four of them gave a cruel smile as they raised their palms up so they were pointed at him.

"Zaku…" Dosu clenched his fists tight. "…what did Kabuto do to you?"

All four Zaku broke into a robotic laughter. The sound was eerie and sent shivers down Dosu's spine. "That secret weapon that Kabuto has had everyone working on for the last month…that was me! I'm going to be the instrument that takes down this village!"

Dosu stared in disbelief at his former teammate. "You really believe that?" He asked quietly.

"Hmm?" The Zakus lowered their hands slightly in confusion.

"He's just using you, you fool!" Dosu screamed as loud as he could. "What do you think is going to happen when your usefulness has run out? Once he frees that fox you're just fodder like everyone else! Was it worth trading away your body?"

Silence settled between the two, or five of them.

"Answer me, Zaku!"

"You talk too much." They raised their arms back up to fire.

"Not so fast!" Spikes of ice propelled forward by a strong gale of wind suddenly impaled all four Zakus. They exploded before they were even able to register what happened.

Dosu spun around in surprise. "You!" He shouted as Haku and a blonde girl slowly walked up to him.

"This that third teammate you just told me about?" Temari eyed Dosu up and down carefully.

"You should already know him." Haku sighed dramatically. "You watched him fight Lee-san in the tournament."

"You any good without that sound manipulator on your arm?" Temari asked skeptically.

Dosu turned away before answering. "Don't follow me." He began walking away from the two of them.

"Where are you going?" Haku asked as he ran up to him.

"To stop Zaku." Dosu answered immediately causing Haku and Temari to stop and stare at each other in surprise.

"You know where the real one is?" Temari asked as she also ran to catch up.

"He should be back at the base. At the very least his mind is." Dosu didn't break stride.

"How do you know that? Can you be sure there is a real one?" Haku was now walking right next to him.

"Of course there is. The signs are obvious." Dosu finally stopped and turned towards him.

"What signs?" Temari and Haku asked at the same time.

"Genjutsu." All three turned in surprise. Zabuza stood behind them. "One needs a brain that feels senses to be affected by genjutsu. Odds are they are all being controlled by a single brainwave that is being transmitted from Otogakure's closest base."

"The first exam proctor?" Dosu asked in surprise.

"That's Zabuza-sensei to you." Zabuza said as he looked over the three Genin in front of him. "You two will need these." He threw Dosu and Temari headbands with a leaf etched into each to them.

"What are we going to do with these?" Dosu asked suspiciously.

"Wear them proudly of course." Zabuza received a strange look from all three of them. "Team Zabuza's Genin team is officially formed and we have been given our first mission. Stop the Otogakure Genin Abumi Zaku and protect the village kind enough to take us in."

Haku broke into a smile. "Guess it is time to return the favor!" He turned to Dosu.

"…I thought I told you not to follow me." Dosu felt his voice falter. "This is something I have to do."

"Lead the way Shorty." Temari nudged Dosu in the shoulder. She already bore the Konoha headband on her head. "We're a team now. Get used to us."

Dosu felt a strange feeling well up inside as he too slipped the Konoha band around his forehead. "We're going to need a way to sneak out. There are a lot of enemies."

Zabuza chuckled. "You leave that to me."

* * *

Yamato landed nimbly on the roof of a building just outside of the destruction that had been incurred by the overgrowing roots. His knees felt weak as he stared at the carnage in front of him. Dozens of Shinobi on both side already lay dead. Blood and fire were everywhere. Yet still more people were fighting and attempting to murder one another. "What a scene…"

"Is this the first time you've experience war?" Hayate asked as he landed next to him.

Yamato nodded slowly. "I was just a Genin when the Third Ninja World War was ending. I never had a chance to go out to the field. Is it always quite this horrific?"

"It is." Hayate nodded honestly, his cough had yet to come back. "How could all of these men have snuck in? Could Konoha's detection barrier have fallen?"

"Someone, or several people led them in." Yamato answered as something terrible caught his eye. "That man there…he led them in."

Hayate turned his gaze and his eyes widened remarkably. "So my hunch was right…the same face on our monument." As he spoke the man they were staring at unleashed another wave of giant roots that began tearing through the ground and sending many Shinobi flying, both friend and foe.

"Shodai-sama…" Yamato was hoping he had been wrong but no one else was capable of producing a wood technique quite like that.

"He is the general leading this division of forces, then?" Hayate drew his blade and slid into a fighting stance. "If we defeat him, the whole division will go into disarray." Before Yamato could say anything more Hayate was gone.

Senju Hashirama had never felt more pain in his unbeating heart than at this very moment as he destroyed the village he had helped create and killed the Shinobi of this generation. "I am sorry…my children." He was running through seals to unleash another deadly attack.

He never completed it. A man with a sword and a brown hair appeared right in front of him, swinging horizontally. The man sliced through his arms completely and continued on to hack his whole body in half.

Hashirama's hands fell to the ground followed by his upper body. "I am sorry, Shodai-sama." The Proctor spoke as he turned towards the downed former leader. "I had expected more from you, however."

"You have made a grave mistake in thinking that attack would finish this body." Hashirama's head spoke from the ground.

"What?" Hayate took a step back as he noticed the hands he had just cut off crumple apart before reforming back onto his arms. The hands finished the seals and roots sprang forth right beneath Hayate's feet.

"Hang on, Hayate-san!" Yamato shouted. Suddenly the roots bent away from the Shinobi and instead smashed down onto a group of Otogakure Shinobi who had just made it into the village.

"Impossible…no one alive should be capable of controlling Mokuton." Hashirama's head just reformed onto his body and he was able to gaze at Yamato who stood right in front of him.

"…Forgive me, Shodai-sama. I will have to fight and kill you for the sake of the village."

Hashirama smiled sadly. "Unfortunately, I am unkillable as I am. The technique that was used to bring me back to life has bound my soul to this body. You must find a way to seal me."

"How terrible…" Yamato felt sick at the explanation of the technique and what he would have to do.

"It is terrible but you must find it in yourself to fight and defeat me. Do not mourn over my fate. The controller of this technique will not give me room to be lenient." Hashirama spoke quickly. He needed to pass this information on as fast as possible. "Do what you must to protect this village. I am no longer your leader but your sworn enemy who will do whatever I must to crush this place and everyone in it."

"Shodai-sama…" Yamato choked out. He couldn't believe this. He was going to have to fight the man he had idolized more than any other Hokage. It was almost too much to ask. The roots around his feet suddenly sprung to life. "Crap!" Yamato had let his sentimentality cost him.

"Hold on!" Hayate shouted as he sliced the roots apart and grabbed Yamato, yanking him away all in one fluid motion.

"I owe you one." Yamato sighed in relief. He had been moments away from being crushed to death.

Hayate shook his head. "I am convinced now that you are going to have to be the one to win this."

"Me?" Yamato asked in surprise. "You are much stronger though!"

"You are the one…I will aide you however I can, but it must be you." Hayate turned back to the Shodai. "Are you ready?"

"I…don't know." Yamato admitted as he stumbled up.

"You are not alone Yamato!" A heavy set man said as he landed behind him.

"That's right! We'll back you up as well!" A blonde man landed next to him.

"It's time for Ino-Shika-Cho to lend their aide to the village." A man that looked like an older version of Shikamaru said as he appeared last.

"Choza, Inoichi, Shikaku!" Yamato turned and saw many more Shinobi rushing into the frontlines.

"We'll take care of any fodder. Shodai-sama…no, their leader is up to you." Shikaku said as he jumped into the fray.

"Good luck!" The other two were quick to be after him.

"Everyone…" Yamato's eyes slowly turned resolute. "…alright. I don't know how I'll do it, but I'll find a way." He turned towards Hashirama.

"I hope you are ready, Shodai-sama! I am going to show you that Mokuton has been entrusted in good hands!"

* * *

"Kakashi-san, to your left!" A man with a hood, raised cuff, and dark glasses shouted as he shoved the copy-nin out of the way. He jumped after him just as a series of kunai with explosive tags landed on the spot. They all blew up, engulfing the area in flames.

"I owe you, Gen-san." Kakashi nodded to the head of the Aburame Clan. His Sharingan was still covered as he had to save his strength for the one who blasted down the gate.

"No problem." Gen replied. His bugs buzzing loudly around him, flying at more Otogakure Shinobi.

Kakashi's fist buried itself into the gut of an Otogakure Shinobi. A kunai to the throat put him down for good. With a slopping noise he pulled it out and immediately threw it right in between the eyes of another Shinobi.

"Not many of those robotic Genin this far out." Gen noticed as his bugs sucked the life out of a group of Shinobi. All around the two of them many other battles were also taking place. Shinobi on both sides were dropping fast. It only took one stroke to bring many of them down.

"No, there isn't." It was just then Kakashi noticed it. A giant vortex of water being formed. Without hesitation he pulled his Sharingan up. He immediately formed the seals and a wall of earth rose up in front of him. The vortex of water flew forward and smashed into the wall, cracking it badly but it still managed to stand. The water that before would have torn through both friend and foe now instead flooded around, creating more of an inconvenience for the fighting Shinobi than a deadly force. "That's our man." Kakashi jumped over the wall and immediately ran forward.

His Sharingan immediately picked up on the man who was none other than the Nidaime Hokage, Senju Tobirama.

The nearest group of Konoha stood frozen in shock. "Don't stand there you fools! He is the enemy!" Kakashi shouted too late. Tobirama split them all in half with a blade of water. Kakashi cursed. Six Shinobi dead simply because they were too surprised to move. How many more had been like that at the other gates as well?

"A Sharingan wielder…but in only one eye?" Tobirama eyed Kakashi curiously as he approached him.

"Yo!" Kakashi said as he stopped about thirty paces away.

"What happened to the rest of the Uchiha? It would be best if those with the Sharingan combat me since I specialize in Suiton Ninjutsu." Tobirama was already running through seals as he talked.

"Sorry, but the Uchiha won't be showing up today. You'll have to bear with me." Kakashi's eye allowed him to mimic his movements.

Neither man bothered to shout the name of their jutsu as another torrent of water formed in front of the Nidaime. Kakashi pulled the water that had been created earlier for his attack. The two blasts of water shot forward into each other and then blasted skywards. Soon a heavy rain poured down on all the Shinobi in the current vicinity.

"How were you revived?" Kakashi asked as the Nidaime became visible again.

"Someone perfected the technique Edo Tensei that I had begun to create." Tobirama charged forward and threw a punch. Kakashi blocked it and swung his leg in a sweep.

"If you know anyone capable of sealing I suggest you get them over here. However, you'll have to weaken me before that will work." Tobirama back flipped over the sweep and attempted to catch Kakashi with a kick in the air.

Kakashi caught his foot and threw the Nidaime straight into a nearby collapsed wall. "Kakashi-san!" Gen shouted with worry evident in his voice.

Kakashi spun around a saw a giant man oozing dark energy coming straight at him. He was tall, dark skinned and had long orange hair that fell wildly around his body. "Gah!" The man screamed incomprehensibly.

Kakashi blocked the fist that the man through but was knocked flying by the force behind it. He flew straight into Gen who was running towards him. They both tumbled to the ground. "What is that guy?" Kakashi asked as he stumbled to his feet.

"I-It's Jugo!" Someone from Otogakure shouted in fear. He had no time to react as a Konoha Shinobi stabbed him in the back.

"Jugo…?" Kakashi turned and watched the man grow strange looking smokestacks around his body. He had heard rumors of that name. A teenage boy had gone on a rampage and destroyed his home village. "So this is how Orochimaru has been making those cursed seals…"

"Obliterate!" The man shouted as he suddenly fired a powerful beam of energy right at the two of them.

"Gen-san…it's time to move." Kakashi said as he jumped out of the way. The Aburame man was quickly after him.

They landed on the highest vantage point available which was a part of the gate that hadn't completely crumbled away. What Kakashi saw caused his eyes to go wide. There were at least a hundred of the people exactly like the man that had just attack the two of them.

"I think Otogakure just got reinforcements…" Gen made his observation aloud.

Kakashi sighed. The Nidaime was up and running at them too.

"This just keeps getting better and better."

* * *

"Extend!" Sarutobi shouted as his pole that had once been Enma shot forward. It was taller than most buildings now and he held it high in the air. He swung it down hard on top of the head of one of the giant snakes that had torn down a wall of the village. The snake's head was sent crashing into the ground before it popped out of existence.

"Hokage-sama! You shouldn't be here! Leave this to us!" A Shinobi shouted as he landed next to his leader.

"Silence! I am not some crippled old man who can no longer fight. If someone dares attack my village than I will of course be on the front lines! It is my duty as Hokage to defend my home with my life!" The pole retracted back to normal length as Sarutobi stepped forward.

"Kukuku…" The old man looked up at the giant purple snake that the voice had come from. It opened its mouth and Orochimaru slid out of it. "Brave words for someone as senile as yourself."

"Orochimaru…how did I know I would find you slithering around here? This is Tobirama-sensei's technique isn't it?" Sarutobi stared with pure contempt at his former pupil.

"It is indeed." Orochimaru landed on the ground in front of his Sensei, pulling out his sword from his mouth as he did. "Kabuto seems to have done a fine job…I don't particularly like being a pawn but I finally have immortality. It would also seem he pulled my men from all over the continent. I would guess there are more men here than even if Sunagakure had lent their aide."

"How many of you did he create?" Sarutobi asked cautiously, ignoring the latter part of his student's rant.

Orochimaru shrugged. "Who knows? Aside from myself I've only seen three others. He likely didn't have enough time to gather powerful Shinobi from all over the world."

"You're giving me a lot of information…" Sarutobi noted dryly. "…at least a lot for a man who never gave away anything before."

"No matter how much you know it's too late for you to change anything Sensei. I'm telling you because I want you to know how greatly you've failed."

"What makes you so sure I've failed?" Sarutobi already had a feeling he knew the answer.

Orochimaru broke into another cackling fit. "My snakes of course…they're slithering all around your village, just eating up the yummy treats such as the children of this village."

Sarutobi felt a vein on his head throb. "You monster!" He pointed his staff right at Orochimaru and fired it forward.

"Pointless…" Orochimaru let the staff pierce him right in the heart. "…I have no reason to fear death Sensei. You brought this on yourself. You left it to Jonin to kill me. This time I'll fight you myself with my full power and immortality."

Sarutobi ignored him as he swung his staff around, with Orochimaru still hanging on it. He slammed the Sannin into one of his snakes which in turn smashed into a building. The building collapsed and the snake poofed out of existence.

Orochimaru slithered his way out of the rubble. "I see you didn't bother to call my teammates back. You didn't think I would be here?"

"I had no reason to concern either one of them with the likes of you." Sarutobi's staff retracted back to its normal length.

"Kukuku…" Orochimaru continued to chuckle. "You are no match for me, Sensei!" Orochimaru shouted. As he did, three giant snakes slithered forward at the old man at once.

"That's far enough…" A lazy sounding voice said as the snakes suddenly lost their heads. They vanished in a cloud of smoke before they could even hit the ground.

Sarutobi slowly turned his head. "You…"

Asuma stood slightly to the back and right of him. "You got business to take care of with this guy, right?" Asuma threw out his cigarette as he talked. His chakra knives were in either hand. "I'll deal with those giant snakes."

"Not by yourself." Yuhi Kurenai said as she stepped out from behind him. "I'll assist you."

Asuma sighed. "If you insist…"

"Asuma…thank you." Sarutobi turned back towards Orochimaru.

"Don't mention it…Dad."

* * *

Hiashi tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for the barrier squad to arrive. He had been waiting here and could only watch with his Byakugan as battles broke out all across the village. It irritated him to do nothing while friend and foe cut one another down. Finally, it looked like the barrier squad was approaching.

"Here we are!" A man with a huge mustache shouted as he and three more Shinobi landed.

Hiashi turned to them. "Excellent. How soon do you think you can have the barrier down?"

The man with the mustache ignored Hiashi's question and walked up to the barrier. He leaned his face in closely and rubbed his chin as he observed it. "Hmm…yes, yes…I see." He mumbled quietly to himself for a full antagonizing minute that drove the others mad.

Hiashi cleared his throat and repeated. "Do you think you can take it down?"

The mustached man leaned his face away from the barrier and broke loudly into laughter. "The only thing you will hear from me when I'm done is mission success!"

"I hope you speak the truth." Hiashi spoke coldly. "My daughter and nephew are in there. Not to mention the longer we wait the closer the enemy gets to releasing our village's worst terror."

"You heard the man, men!" The leader of the barrier squad shouted. "Get to taking this thing down immediately."

Hiashi nodded his approval before he turned around. Just as he did a man came running around the corner. Or perhaps limping would be a more accurate description. The Otogakure Shinobi was leaving a large trail of blood as he moved ever closer to the barrier. His left foot dragged uselessly behind his foot as it appeared to be bent at an odd angle. He had gouges and slashes all across his body and kunai and shuriken were still stuck in his back. All in all, it was a miracle he could still move.

The Hyuuga watched him with reserved awe and overall disinterest as the man finally collapsed. He reached his hand forward and placed his open palm on the ground. "Kabuto-sama…I made it…"

Hiashi's eyes widened as he watched black marking appear below his hand. "I won't let you!" He shouted too late as he whipped a kunai at the dying man.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu…" The man breathed his last breath as a single coffin slowly began to rise up in front of him, intercepting the kunai. It opened up and Hiashi's eyes widened in shock and terror. "…it can't be. Why you…?"

A lone woman stepped out of the coffin. She was dressed in a beautiful kimono. Her blue hair which would normally have been long was tied up in a bun behind her head. She had striking purple eyes that before Hiashi felt like he could stare at forever with love. Now the sight of her made his stomach turn.

"Kana…" His wife that had given birth to two beautiful children.

How could he be expected to fight her? How was it even possible that she was here? Things were just so wrong.

"It's been a long time…my husband." The woman once known as Kana replied

Finally, Hiashi found his voice as his training kicked in. "So it has..." He slowly slipped into his stance as he stared at his wife. "I don't wish to fight you but I see no other way. Your techniques are of serious danger to the men I am protecting."

Kana smiled lovingly at him. "Even in death you make me blush. I am sorry for being so weak that I got brought back by this technique. How are our daughters?"

Hiashi shook his head. "You've never been weak.". He was about to say more but a set of senbon appeared right in front of his face and he barely managed to deflect them. He then decided it was best to speak quickly before she was forced to attack more too. "Hanabi is growing well. She is strong for her age. Hinata…things have been rough for her but she has found a great boyfriend. Together she has become a truly great Kunoichi. You'd be proud of her."

Kana smiled as she pulled more senbon from the sleeves of her kimono. "I'm glad…"

* * *

"Feel my fist of youth!" Guy's fist smashed a man so hard he crashed into another three before they all crashed into a collapsed building. Not one of them ever got up again. "Who's next?" Guy turned towards another group of Shinobi who all back away slightly.

Before that group could react Guy was there, spinning so fast he was a green blur. "Konoha Senpu!" His kick shattered bones and busted organs instantly, ending most of their lives on the spot.

Another Shinobi ran up from behind. He stabbed at the back of Guy's head only for him to vanish. "Too slow!" He grabbed the back of the man's head and slammed his face into the ground. Blood splattered in every direction as his head was crushed. "Everyone move forward! We are pushing them back!" Guy shouted as he moved onto his next group of opponents.

The Shinobi of Konoha behind him shouted acknowledgment to his order. Ever since Guy had arrived they had been gaining an overwhelming advantage.

"Guy!" A voice shouted that sent a shiver down the gown man's spine. "You are still so full of youth despite the fact that you look almost as old as myself!" Before Guy could react a man appeared in front of him and drilled a punch into his stomach that knocked the wind out of him and sent him flying backwards. He hit the ground on his butt and looked in horror at the man that was in front of him.

"…Hiro-sensei?" Guy was practically looking at a carbon copy of himself but there were a few key differences. The other man stood about an inch taller than Guy and his eyes were darkened by the effect of the Jutsu that had brought him back.

Guy slowly stood to his feet. "How could this happen to you?"

"Undeath is a cruel thing, that's for sure, Guy." Hiro spoke to his former student fondly. "I was both hoping I would see you and that I wouldn't when I realized where I was. You've grown so much and that makes me happy but it breaks my heart that I have to fight you."

"So the technique that brought the gate down was Asa Kujaku." Guy shook his head sadly. His hunch had been right. However, before he could say any more a couple Shinobi charged passed him. They ran straight at Hiro and rammed him through the chest with two giant looking kunai.

"We'll take care of him, Guy-san!" They shouted triumphantly.

Hiro looked down at them sadly. "What I am about to do is most unyouthful, I apologize." Both men widened their eyes in surprise when he spoke as if nothing happened. A minute later though and the sound of squishing reached their ears. They looked down to see Hiro's arms had disappeared into their chests.

Guy felt like throwing up on the spot. His sensei stood in front of him, his arms sticking out the back of his allies…holding their hearts in each hand. "Hiro-sensei…this isn't like you."

"No." Hiro agreed. He dropped the hearts and retracted his hands. Both men dropped dead to the ground. "There is no room for youth when you are undead I'm afraid." He slowly pulled the giant blades from his chest. "Guy…you must find a way to put me down. I am sorry to have to ask you this, but it has to be you." Hiro slowly walked forward, his arms dripping the blood of the men he just killed.

Guy gulped heavily before nodding. "If you ask me to, I'll find a way Hiro-sensei! After all I have strived to become a man as youthful as yourself! Please tell me how you think I've done when I've defeated you!"

"That's my youthful prodigy." Hiro nodded in satisfaction as he settled into a Goken stance. Guy settled into his own stance.

They both jumped forward faster than the eye could see. Their fists connected with each other. They stepped back and each to the right and swung their legs forward. Their legs connected with one another while high in the air. They both dropped them down and stepped forward, their fists connecting with each other again.

"Your stance is as good as ever, Guy!" Hiro shouted his praise as they continued to match one another's moves. "I am glad to see you haven't been slacking since I died."

"Please! I am far too youthful to slack!" As the two of them battled the other Shinobi began to engage in their own battles around the two of them. "I am more surprised to see death hasn't worn you out any."

Hiro let out a deep throated laugh. "I trust you have taken on a team that has learned the ways of youth?"

Guy smirked and grabbed Hiro's newest punch. He threw him through the air. Hiro landed nimbly on his feet. "You'd be proud of the team I'm training." Guy was immediately running at him.

"Oh?" Hiro asked as he blocked Guy's punch. "Tell me about them."

"First there is Rock Lee. He dresses the exact same way we do. Listen to this though; he can't use ninjutsu or genjutsu at all. He only has taijutsu! He used to be mediocre at that too but now it is his greatest strength." The two continued to trade blows.

"Then there is Hyuuga Hinata. She is the Heiress to her clan and when I first met her she was one of the least confident people in the world. Now she believes in herself so much she can even break paralysis and beat opponents no one else could ever dream of."

"Finally is Uzumaki Naruto. He's a special kid alright. Can create more Shadow Clones than the eye can see. He dreams to become Hokage someday and at first he was a long way off but now he is much closer than ever before! The three of them made it to the Third Exam of the Chunin Exams and performed splendidly!"

Hiro smiled as he and Guy separated again. "It sounds like you've found yourself a great team, Guy."

Guy smiled brightly at his sensei. This would be the last time he would ever be able to talk to him again. He had to get serious after this.

"You bet!"


	27. Invasion Part 2

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_Invasion (Part 2)_

* * *

Destruction rein everywhere as a single woman and who held onto a small girl hurried through the streets of Konoha. She had been enjoying a once quiet day in the village with her daughter while her husband and older son watched the Chunin Exams. Now she ran through the streets littered with broken glass and flaming buildings, all the while being chased by a group of the same, strange robotic boy.

"Where you going, bitch?" One of the Zaku's let out a mechanical laugh as he propelled himself forward from fire that was spraying from his hands.

The woman only ran faster. Suddenly, a kunai landed a ways ahead of her. It exploded with a loud bang and the woman was blown backwards. She turned her body and wrapped her arms tightly around her daughter as she smashed into the ground.

Four Zakus slowly walked up and smiled sadistically down at her. "P-please…just let my daughter go." The little girl was sobbing painfully as the woman looked up at the robotic boys with a tear-stricken face of her own.

One of the Zakus slowly bent down and looked at her, his face dead serious. The woman began to crawl backwards in fear but Zaku latched onto her arm, the sadistic smile was back. "I'll take her off your hands." He reached forward and grabbed onto the girl and began to yank her from her mother's grasp.

"No! Please! She's just a child!" The woman shouted and pleaded as she held onto her daughter with all her might.

"Shut up!" Zaku's face scowled for a split second as he smacked the woman in the face and yanked the small girl free.

"Mommy!" The small girl shouted as she reached for her to no avail.

Zaku smiled. "You'll never see mommy again, brat." Zaku's stomach opened and he reached into his stomach and pulled out a kunai.

"No!" The woman got up but was battered back down by two other Zakus. They each pinned an arm to the ground.

"Enjoy the show…" They said together in the same mechanical voice.

"Please…" The woman couldn't see anything at all as her tears blurred her vision.

The next thing she heard however, surprised her. "What the hell?" All four Zaku's said simultaneously. "Why can't I move?"

"Kiba! Choji! They're bound!" Shikamaru shouted as he sat perfectly still, his hands still in the form of a seal.

"About damn time!" Kiba shouted as he ran forward and immediately ripped the girl from Zaku's arms.

"I got you ma'am." Choji pulled the woman out from the underneath the other two Zakus. She was sobbing harder now, mumbling barely coherent words of thanks.

"Like hell am I going to let you dickheads get away with this!" All four Zakus present began glowing yellow.

"Get out of there!" Sakura ran towards them but it was too late. All four Zaku's violently exploded, sending pieces of metal and debris everywhere. Sakura and everyone else covered their faces to protect themselves from the heat.

"No!" Ino shouted as stared at the smoke that occupied the spots where her friend and teammate had just been.

Akamaru, still shaped like Kiba began sniffing loudly. He turned his head to the left and gazed upwards and gave a loud bark. Everyone followed his gaze.

On top of the roof stood Shino and laying next to him in a heap were Kiba, Choji, and the mother and daughter.

"Damn…" Kiba rubbed his back as he sat up. "…that was a painful ride but I have to hand it to you, it saved our asses." He turned and smiled up at Shino who had used his insects to save them by picking them up and dropping them off on the roof just before the explosions went off. Shino merely nodded down at him.

"It would appear they are unharmed." Shikamaru who had been tense just moments ago relaxed his shoulders.

"I…need…food." Choji raised his arm into the air as he gasped for breath. The mother and daughter sat on top of his stomach, looking completely bewildered by the sudden change of events.

"Are you okay?" Shino bowed slightly as he stuck his one hand forward to help them up.

"You…you boys…" The woman began choking on her words as tears began to slide down her face again. "…you saved us!" She jumped forward and tackled Shino in a hug.

"Well…it wasn't anything special." Shino rubbed his head in embarrassment. It was rare that someone was willing to hug him.

"Jeez, look at the hero over here." Kiba laughed from where he sat before he too was tackled by the daughter who was also sobbing heavily.

"Gah!" Choji sat up and began taking in huge gulps of air now that the weight was off his body.

"Somebody save us!" The sound of people screaming from a few streets down reached the ears of everyone there.

"Get them down and join us ASAP!" Shikamaru shouted as he and the others on the ground took to the roofs to save the other people in need.

"You heard him." Shino adjusted his glasses as his bugs began to gently let them all down. "We have to hurry and save others."

"If you keep running you'll be to the shelter in just a couple blocks." Kiba said as he stood up, the girl in his arms. "You'll make it for sure and if not just holler and we'll be there to save you again."

"Thank you all so much…" The woman continued to sob words of thanks into Shino's now drenched shoulder.

"We're Genin of Konohagakure." Choji said as he stumbled up. The other two nodded.

"Saving people is what we do."

* * *

Lee and Neji charged straight at each other inside the barrier that split them off from everyone else in Konoha. Naruto remained pinned to the cross and Hinata, who had just quit struggling against the water ropes, held her head above the surface to watch. Meanwhile, Kabuto just continued to smile as evilly as ever.

"Take this fist of youth!" Lee shouted as he threw the strongest punch he could in his weakened state.

Neji ducked under it and continued forward; bringing his palms out in a thrust. "Lee, you fool! You can't beat me!"

Lee turned his body sideways and just barely dodged the Jyuuken strike. He held his elbow high and brought it down. "There is only one way to prove you wrong and save my friend!"

Neji's forearm blocked the strike. He knocked Lee's elbow back up with such force that he stumbled backwards. "It's not about right and wrong!" Neji yelled as his Jyuuken connected with Lee's stomach, sending the Genin splashing into the ankle deep water. "He is a Jonin controlling my body! I might as well be stronger than normal. Meanwhile you are completely worn out. Fate isn't on your side in this, Lee!"

"Shut up!" Lee rose up to his feet. "Even if I did believe in fate and knew it was against me you think I would just sit here and do nothing?" He glared darkly at his ex-teammate. "I will push myself past my limits and destroy fate with my own two hands!"

Neji's eyes widened as he stared at the one boy who he had come closest to calling friend. "…so be it, Lee. If my body crushes you I have nothing to do with it. That is the curse of fate that now binds me."

"Hinata was right." Lee said as he slipped into a stance that made it look like he was ready to start a race. "You simply use fate as an excuse to hide behind." Neji was surprised. Lee's voice had come from above but he was still right in front of him. His body jumped backwards on its own accord just before Lee's foot smashed into the ground, sending water spraying everywhere. Neji blinked a couple times as the water hit his eyes.

When his vision cleared he saw five different Lees all around him. "You're using afterimages again. I'm surprised you have the speed for that." Neji replied in monotone as his body automatically reacted and blocked Lee's next attack.

The image of Lee in front of him was smiling. "I do not need to open a single gate to perform such a trick." Lee's voice jumped to a new location every word. Meanwhile, an image of himself remained behind.

"You know the problem with afterimages?" Kabuto asked loudly. Lee didn't respond as he appeared behind Neji with his foot high in the air. "They make it easy to predict your next move."

A wall of earth rose up right next to Neji and Lee's foot slammed into it. "Yow!" Lee was skipping and holding onto the foot that had smacked into the wall. He hadn't even noticed Neji form the seals for that move, it had been so quick.

"I told you, Lee. You're a fool." Neji spun around in a sweep that caught Lee while he was still skipping. Lee was flipped so his body was horizontal with the ground and as he began to fall, Neji drilled his elbow into his solar plexus. Lee spit blood as he was slammed full force into the ground at Neji's feet.

"If you had kicked at him at your full strength you would've easily shattered that wall. However, you held back for fear of hurting your friend." Kabuto cackled as he clapped his hands. "Your previous words and your current actions are contradicting each other. I thought you would said you would fight him to save your friend? This isn't a fight. It's a pummeling."

Lee didn't move from the water or give an answer. He appeared to be unconscious.

Kabuto's face suddenly twisted into one of boredom. "Finish him off, Neji. I thought I would get some good entertainment before I had to get serious, but it would appear I was mistaken."

"No!" Hinata shouted.

"Don't worry. I'll bring him back to life. I'm capable of it, after all." Kabuto chuckled as he turned and began walking towards Naruto. He stopped just in front of the blond. "Are you ready, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto gave him a feral grin. "Try whatever the hell you want. The fox is staying inside me. I've protected this village for thirteen years and I'm sure as hell not about to fail now."

Kabuto smirked as he gazed at each of Naruto's hands which still dripped blood down onto the wooden cross. "As I explained earlier, I am before anything, a scientist. I was also Orochimaru's personal doctor and as such, surgery happens to be a specialty of mine."

"You plan to cut the fox out of me?" Naruto continued to hold his feral smile.

"Precisely." Kabuto reached into his back pouch and pulled out a kunai in the shape of a scalpel. "You can think of this cross that you are bound to as a special operating table which allows me extract special chakra…in this case, your prisoner."

"That extraction may have to wait…your pawn is about to be knocked for a loop." Kabuto spun around at Naruto's words.

Neji had slowly walked up to Lee raised his foot above his face. "…I really am sorry, Lee." He brought his foot down. A moment later and he was dazed and flying high in the air. "…what?"

Kabuto's amused smile returned. "Looks like I might get some more entertainment after all." He had just barely caught a glimpse of what had happened. Lee had reacted to Neji's strike by punching the bottom of his sandal with such force that it had sent the Hyuuga genius flying.

"Never think I am down!" Lee appeared in the air in front of his opponent.

"You idiot! You should have gone for Kabuto! He was wide open!" Neji brought his arms together in an X just in time. Lee's fist smashed into his guard and sent him flying towards the ground. Neji began running through seals. As he approached the earth he stuck his hands out.

His palms hit the ground and then the rest of his body did but instead of smashing against it and creating a splash of water, mud was flung everywhere. Neji had turned the ground to mud to soften his blow.

His mud-covered form got to his feet. Neji wanted nothing more than to wipe himself down or at least shake some of it off but he wasn't the one in control.

"This is an official match, Neji. I cannot abandon it." Lee landed not too far from him. He appeared to stand much higher now as Neji was knee deep in mud while he was only ankle deep in water.

Kabuto clapped loudly. "That is a good fake answer, but I'm not buying it. The real reason you are fighting your friend is because it keeps me from making a move. You've realized that it is hard for me to multitask both minds at once and so you are keeping that body busy and ultimately buying yourself time for someone to break in and save you."

Lee cursed internally. He had been figured out.

"Of course, I could easily focus both his mind and my own on the same task of killing you but this is much more amusing." Kabuto adjusted his glasses. "Now fight for me, my pawns."

Neji completed another set of seals and even more mud began to crawl up his body, completely covering him from head to toe, leaving only his eyes visible. The mud then hardened.

"Rock armor?" Lee's bushy brows shot up in surprise.

"This was the true purpose behind Kakashi-sensei teaching Doton." Neji stepped up from the mud-hole he was in. "Doton is the best ninjutsu for defending. Combine that with my already powerful defensive capabilities and I become untouchable. No matter how much speed you have it won't help you. That is how powerful I've become."

Lee shook his head. "Having power is not what makes you strong, Neji. I can still win this."

Neji scowled. He didn't want to be fighting right now but Lee's attitude was getting on his nerves anyways. "Not more of that believe in yourself garbage." He replied snidely.

"You should try it sometime." Lee was off at his rival at second later. Neji raised his hand and blocked Lee's punch with his palm. Lee stepped back and let out another yelp. Before he could move, Neji stepped forward and buried his palm in Lee's gut.

Lee stumbled backwards but managed to stay standing. Blood rolled out from the corners of his mouth. "That was a Jyuuken strike as well…"

"Not only does my armor protect me from all kinds of physical attacks but it lets me use my own attacks at will." Neji was running at Lee as he talked. "This is why it would be best if you just quit before I killed you."

"You know I cannot give up." Lee stepped backwards and dodged Neji's first swing. He knocked Neji's second attack to the side and the spun around, delivering a strong kick to Neji's head. It connected but Neji didn't even flinch.

"You're out of strength, Lee." Neji knocked Lee's foot aside and swung forward. Lee vanished a second later.

"I am not out of speed." Lee shouted as he appeared behind him.

"Kaiten!" Lee was blown backwards by Neji's spiraling shield. He landed on his feet and was gone a second later. "Give up, Lee! Don't make me hurt you!"

"Quit sprouting the same line!" Lee appeared next to spinning shield and kicked at it again. He bounced back lightly before attacking it again. He was once again repelled back a couple feet.

This time he skid to a stop. He looked up and Neji's rotation was still active but he felt a sudden jolt of pain in his shoulder. A second later and it looked like Neji was charging at him. Lee was knocked down hard as he felt an invisible attack hit his face.

"…the time delay genjutsu." Lee cursed and rolled through the water away from Neji who appeared to him to be punching where he had just been. He was suddenly picked up by what felt like a kick and sent skipping across the water.

"Lee!" Neji's voice was pleading now. "Please…you don't have what it takes to break a genjutsu."

"So what?" Lee pulled himself up slowly, agonizingly. "If I perceive everything two seconds slower than that just means I have to be two seconds faster." As he talked Neji already appeared to be running forward.

Lee breathed in deeply and closed his eyes. His mind slowly emptied out as he erased all sense of feeling. He could no longer hear Neji's steps as he ran at him. He couldn't see him as he pulled his Jyuuken strike back. The only thing he could feel was his body, his breathing. The way his fist felt when he clenched it tightly. "I can do this…" Only his voice filtered through.

Neji pulled his palm back. "…This may be the end, Lee." He only wished he could close his eyes as he swung forward. He couldn't watch as he pummeled someone to death without being in control anymore.

Neji and Kabuto's eyes widened in surprise as Neji's attack was deflected. Before he could even ask how he had Lee's fist right in his face. His mud armor cracked apart around his upper body and he was jarred backwards.

"I felt it connect." Lee slowly opened his eyes. "Yosh! I can do this." He ran forward and swung his fist.

Neji raised his arm to block Lee's attack but Lee suddenly passed through him and another one from behind the first delivered a powerful kick that connected with his ribs. Neji's mud armor cracked apart more and this time whole pieces went flying off.

Kabuto's smile got bigger. "Interesting…he used his afterimage ability as a screening for his attack. Not only that, but he is fighting on par with someone while two seconds behind."

Hinata smiled despite the situation. "Lee-senpai has memorized the patterns of attack used in the Jyuuken style. It's that memory that is letting him predict Neji's moves."

Neji ducked under Lee's kick. He then swung at him with both palms. Lee placed his hands on top of Neji's outstretched arms and used them to flip himself into the air. "What?"

As Lee completed his flip, he brought the bottom of his foot into the back of Neji's head. He pushed off with all his might and slammed Neji's face straight into the ground. The mud armor around Neji's whole upper body crumpled away completely with that blow. Lee landed a few feet away and spun around. He was immediately running forward again.

"Kaiten!" Neji activated his spinning shield as Lee jumped in the air and began spinning around at incredible speeds himself.

"Konoha Senpu!" Lee's kick had been flying at the reverse of Neji's spin and so when it connected it immediately stopped Neji's spin hard.

Neji felt his whole body lock up from the force of his rough stop. "Impossible…not only did he predict that I would use the Kaiten but he even put enough speed behind his kick to stop it."

"Neji!" Lee shouted as he stepped forward and swung his fist with all his might. Neji's body was still locked up and he could do nothing as Lee's fist buried itself in his unprotected cheek.

He was slammed into the water with a huge splash. Lee stood triumphantly over his body panting heavily. Neji felt his arms try to move upwards on their own but they collapsed back down. His body had had it…

…Lee had won.

No one breathed a word for a whole thirty seconds as Lee and Neji stared hard at each other. Finally, Lee broke the silence. "Neji…is my time back to normal?" He asked hopefully.

Neji sighed in exasperation. He wished he hadn't because water leaked into his mouth. He spit it out immediately. "Idiot! Of course your time is back, I can't even move."

Lee let out a breath he looked like he had been holding. "Good. That will make things much easier." He turned towards Kabuto.

"You can't really mean to fight him, look how worn out you are." Neji attempted to reason with his ex-teammate once again. "You couldn't even open the gates when you fought me."

Lee shook his head. "I chose not to open them."

"What?" Neji's eyes widened in surprise.

"Neji." Lee said. "You know what the biggest difference between you and everyone else I fought is?"

"…" Neji's silence was answer enough.

"The biggest difference between you and them was they tried their hardest. Everyone else put forth everything they could and mustered all the strength in their bodies. They put countless hours into training believing it would pay off one day." Lee closed his eyes. The images of Naruto, Dosu and Haku all came to his mind instantly.

"You do not do that. You work at things the minimal amount and master it." Lee turned and looked at him. "You can blame it on fate all you want, but there is only one thing keeping you from overcoming that seal that binds your movements…"

"…and that one thing is yourself."

* * *

"Mokuton no Jutsu!" Yamato and Hashirama shouted at the same time. More giant branches of trees ripped their way from the ground, cracking the concrete and splitting the buildings. The battling Shinobi who were standing there were forced to move or risk getting caught in the attack.

The massive roots slammed into each other but Hashirama's broke through and continued on towards Yamato. "My ability isn't strong enough…" Yamato cursed as he jumped out of the way of the winding branches. Suddenly many small branches broke free from the large one and shot straight at him. Before Yamato could react he was bound completely.

"I've got you!" Hayate jumped upwards and sliced the branches binding him apart. They both fell towards the ground and landed nimbly on their feet on top of one of the many giant branches that covered the streets of Konoha now.

"Thanks." Yamato sighed in relief. He thought he had been done for.

"I told you I would back you up, thanks are not necessary." Hayate held his blade at the ready. More branches were coming at them.

"Can you cut me a path through?" Yamato took a running stance. "I'm going to have to try to make up for his power with speed."

"Of course I can." Hayate immediately began to run at the many branches that were converging on them. Yamato was right behind him as he hacked and sliced his way through the numerous wooden appendages. More and more of them kept coming though and soon they were completely surrounded by wood that threatened to crush the life of them out of them at any moment. "Get down!" Hayate shouted as he raised his blade high.

Yamato dove to the floor just in time. Hayate swung his blade in a complete circle and all the branches around them fell apart seconds later. Yamato rolled to his feet and was back off instantly.

Hashirama stood on the largest root that came from the ground and Yamato was forced to jump a whole couple stories just to reach him. He landed in front of the former Hokage in a crouch.

"Impressive that you made it this far." Hashirama brought his hands up in the form of a seal as he talked.

"I won't let you!" Yamato extended his hand forward and wood shot from his arm and immediately bound Hashirama's hands together in a wooden box. "You can't form seals like that." He said as he charged forward.

"Binding my Mokuton with Mokuton is a smart move." Hashirama nodded in appreciation at Yamato as he slid one leg back slightly.

"I am honored to be praised by you." Yamato jumped in the air and kicked at his idol. The Shodai raised the wooden block and Yamato's kick connected with that, skidding the Shodai back from the force.

Yamato landed and swung a fist at him next. Hashirama ducked and moved forward, bringing his head up as he did, catching Yamato in the chin and knocking him backwards. Before Yamato had a chance to recover he felt the Shodai's foot bury itself into his stomach.

To keep himself from falling backwards, Yamato shot out two spikes of wood from his hands that he used to anchor himself to the giant branch they fought on. "I guess I was too full of myself for thinking I could best you in taijutsu even with your hands bound." Yamato pulled the small spikes up and held them as two small spears in each hand.

"Maybe so, but you use your Mokuton wisely. You know you are not as powerful as I am with it so you use it in little ways that work well. It may be rude of me, but I failed to catch the name of the successor of my ability."

"Shodai-sama…" Yamato felt his mouth go dry at the praise he received from his idol.

"Your name." Hashirama repeated as he ran forward.

"They refer to me as Yamato now." He brought his spears up and blocked the Shodai's two handed swing. Both of his spears were splintered apart and the Shodai's attack carried on towards his face.

"Out of the way!" Hayate shoved Yamato to the right and then jumped to the left. Hashirama's attack missed completely and he turned to look at the swordsman before charging at him.

"No you don't!" Yamato shouted as eight square branches of wood sprout from both of his arms and zigzagged towards the Shodai. "Your opponent is me!"

"If that is what you wish." Hashirama spun around and prepared for the wood attack. Before he had a chance to react though, he felt Hayate's blade pierce him in the heart from his back. As the blade exited from his chest he brought his bounded hands backwards and sliced them free.

"Shit…" Yamato and Hayate realized at the same time the mistake they made.

"Mokuton no Jutsu!" The wood from Yamato's arm veered off as Hashirama took control of them. They spread around him and then closed back in right on Hayate who was directly behind.

Hayate went to pull his blade out and jump away but the Shodai grabbed onto the part still protruding from his chest. "What?" Hayate let his surprise cost him as his body was battered from all sides by Yamato's attack. He fell to the ground in a bloody mess.

"Hayate-san!" Yamato shouted as he began to run for his fallen comrade.

"Now is not the time to get distracted!" The Shodai shouted as another giant root ripped apart the ground behind him. It stood ten stories straight tall before flung itself towards the ground like a giant tentacle.

"You won't do that! It'll crush you too!" Yamato already knew it was pointless as he yelled it. The Shodai would just regenerate while he and Hayate would be crushed.

"I got you guys!" A giant Chouza yelled as he moved forward and grabbed onto the branch.

"Chouza-san!" Yamato was so glad to see the big man lending him aide.

"Kage Nui no Jutsu!" The Shodaime was bound by a set of black tentacles that sprung from the ground a second later. "Yamato! Get Hayate out from there!" Shikaku was crouched down a little ways behind Chouza.

"Right!" Yamato nodded gratefully and ran forward. Just then though, the sound of more roots breaking free from the ground caused him to turn around. On either side of Chouza, two giant roots rose that were just as tall as him.

"Oh boy…" Chouza could do nothing as he was already having trouble holding onto one root. The other two wrapped around his waist and legs and pulled him backwards and then slammed him into the ground, his body crushed many buildings and many Shinobi who weren't able to move in time.

"Not good." Shikaku also lost control of his Shadow Sewing technique when he lost Chouza's shadow. Before he was able to make another move, a bunch of miniature roots sprout up from below his feet. He was bound and slammed into the ground only a moment later.

The giant root that Chouza had been holding began descending again. "I won't let you crush him!" Yamato ran through more seals. The root slowed its descent towards the ground and just as it was ten feet above them it stopped completely. Yamato dropped to his knee, panting heavily and sweat rolling from his forehead and off his chin. "…Hayate-san…get up. Hurry!" He knew that Hayate couldn't hear him but he spoke anyways.

"Ugh…" Hayate groaned as he slowly opened his eyes and began to pick himself back up. His vision was still incredibly dark he thought as he sat up. Then he realized it wasn't his vision that was dark but he was inside of a giant shadow. He immediately looked above him and saw a giant root looming terrifyingly over his head.

"I suggest you move. Yamato and I are wrestling for control over the root. It is only a matter of moments before I win." Hashirama spoke from directly in front of the Shinobi.

"But he'll be crushed too." Hayate said aloud as he stumbled to his feet.

"A sacrifice he seemed prepared to make to save your life." The Shodai turned his head slightly to gaze at the swordsman. "So what will you do now?"

"A foolish question, I'll save him and myself." Hayate immediately ran past the Shodai and towards Yamato.

"What are you doing?" Yamato shouted. "Get out from under here!"

"Not without you!" Hayate ran up next to him. "You are the one who must defeat him."

Yamato chuckled darkly. "Defeat him? How? He's invincible. It's a miracle we've managed to last this long."

"Nothing is impossible and no one is invincible. I'm sure you'll find a way." Hayate bent down and rested his hand on Yamato's shoulder. "We need to both survive first though." He turned his gaze back up towards the massive root that could crush them at any second.

"I'm…losing…it." Sweat was beginning to pool at the spot Yamato was kneeled at. The root gave a sudden lurch and Hayate narrowed his eyes. He stood up straight and angled his sword. "…Damn it!" Yamato roared as he lost control. The root slammed down on top of the other one, enveloping them both and creating a loud crash.

"Yamato! Hayate!" Shikaku yelled from where he remained bound. The sight of shimmering to the side caught his eyes. He turned to see a barrage of shuriken and kunai flying at him.

"Protect him!" Another group of shuriken came from behind and collided with the first group. All of them landed uselessly in front of Shikaku's face.

"Whew…too close, too close." He breathed a sigh of relief.

The roots around him finally loosened up, probably because the Shodai had been crushed. He easily wiggled his way out and then ran towards the spot where Yamato and Hayate had been.

"Where do you think you're going?" A group of Otogakure Shinobi landed in front of him.

"Kage Nui no Jutsu!" His shadow shot forward and black spikes speared the men before they even knew what happened. He didn't even break pace and immediately reached the two roots.

When he reached the top of the newest one he was surprised to see a giant fissure in the spot where the two of them had been. Just as he saw it a hand reached out and grabbed onto the ledge around. A moment later and Hayate's panting face appeared. He pulled himself up until his waist was out and then he gave a mighty heave. Yamato's face appeared above next and he placed both arms over top of the ledge.

"You guys are alright!" Shikaku ran forward and knelt down next to the two panting men who were both completely out of the fissure. "That your work?" He nodded towards the swordsman.

Hayate nodded back. "I barely made it. These roots are stronger than most rock."

"That's our Shodai for you." Yamato was chuckling as he fell down on his back. He gazed at the sky and began laughing even louder. "We made it!"

"It's not over yet." Hayate rose to his feet. "We have to find a way to defeat him."

"..But how? He's immortal." Shikaku rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Besides, even if he wasn't the Shodai has the body of the sturdiest tree. It would take a great power to bring him down if he was even alive."

"What did you say?" Yamato asked as he bolted up suddenly.

Shikaku looked at him in surprise. "It would take a great power to bring him down?"

"No, before that." Yamato was on his feet now, his eyes wide.

"The Shodai has the body of the sturdiest tree."

"That! That's it! That's the answer!" Shikaku and Hayate looked at each other and then back at him.

"What's the answer?" They asked at the same time.

Yamato opened his mouth to say more but the sound of wood splintering apart stopped him as the Shodai busted free from where he had been imprisoned. "No time to explain. I need you two to back me up as I prepare my technique."

"What are you going to do?" Shikaku asked in exasperation.

"Let it go." Hayate placed his hand on Shikaku's shoulder. "He's found the answer. We'll leave it to him." He turned to the Shodai. "Here he comes."

Hashirama was running at them while going through even more seals. More branches sprout out from the wood they were fighting on and launched towards them. Shikaku clucked his teeth. "Fine. You better hurry, Yamato."

"I'm already on it." Yamato had his eyes closed and held a single seal. Both men could feel an incredible amount of chakra surging from his body.

"Let's go." Hayate said as he turned and began running forward.

"Damn…no choice." Shikaku ran through a set of seals. "Kage Nui no Jutsu!" His shadow sprang to life once again. Anytime a branch approached Yamato his shadow needles would strike at it.

Hayate chopped and slashed his way forward towards the Hashirama. Within seconds he made it to the man. "This fight ends now!" Hayate brought his sword up high and swung it down.

"I hope for the village's sake, it does." Hashirama stepped to the side and dodged the sword. Hayate immediately stopped his sword and changed its direction, forcing him to jump over it now. He performed a flip in the air and brought his foot down over the top of Hayate's head. Hayate held his sword up but the Shodai continued his attack forward. Hayate's sword sliced through his leg at the knee but the foot continued forward and smashed the swordsman right in the nose.

Hayate stumbled backwards and by the time he settled back into his stance Hashirama's leg was already reattached. "Crafty, using that regeneration to your advantage like that."

"If only I had any say in the matter." Hashirama stepped forward but jerked to a stop. His whole body went rigid. Hayate looked at him in amazement as a small twig broke free from the skin at the Shodai's skin. The twig continued to grow and then a small leaf sprouted on it. Suddenly, many other small twigs began to break away from his body. Hashirama reached his hand forward and touched one. "Ah…I see. What an interesting strategy." Hashirama turn his eyes toward Yamato.

Shikaku's eyes widened. "I see…it takes a Senju's cells to create the wood techniques, you're taking control of the cells in his body to permanently change him."

Yamato nodded as he opened his eyes. "I just hope I have the chakra to finish this."

"That won't be necessary; the metamorphosis is already under way. Allow me to help you." The Shodai raised his fingers up and formed a seal. Suddenly a boom of chakra erupted across the area.

"What's he doing?" Yamato almost lost control of his technique in his surprise. "He's going to destroy what I'm trying to do!"

Shikaku shook his head. "Just watch."

The small twigs suddenly sprang to life and continued to grow much faster. Soon the Shodai was completely covered in a twisting mass of wood that was beginning to extend towards the sky. Leafs began to sprout from the top and roots shot forward from the bottom and smashed their way into the ground.

"We got to move!" Hayate shouted as he ran up to the two of them. He noticed that all other Shinobi in the area were already fleeing the scene.

"The technique…" Yamato protested.

"It's already beyond your control." Shikaku grabbed onto him and yanked him backwards. "We're moving, _now."_

Yamato nodded dumbly as he saw the trunk of the massive growing tree expand closer and closer towards them. They all turned and immediately began to retreat deeper into the village.

* * *

Elsewhere in the village, Kakashi and the Nidaime turned their heads as they saw the giant tree continuing to grow much taller than the buildings of Konoha.

"Brother…so you're leaving one last gift to the village?" Tobirama smiled as he looked at it.

* * *

The tree finally stopped growing but it was already hundreds of stories high, making it visible to everyone in the village no matter where they were. Not only was it high but its branches were huge, hanging deep into the village. Big, lush green leaves covered the whole top of it. All fighting in the village temporarily stopped as everyone turned to look at it.

Yamato stared in amazement at it. "Did I…do that?" His knees buckled and he slipped down to them.

Shikaku smiled from next to him. "Kind of. You started the process. Shodai-sama merely finished it. When he channeled all that chakra into his already morphing cells, he greatly strengthened the effects. You could say he found his own way out."

Hayate sheathed his sword. "How was he capable of doing that against the reviver's will?"

Shikakau scratched his head. "He probably cheated the jutsu. He channeled the chakra in order to perform a powerful technique, knowing that his chakra would do this instead." Shikaku opened his mouth to say more but a heavy breeze passed through the area. The leaves of the giant tree rustled. Individually the leaves were quiet, but the millions of them together made a loud noise audible to those below. That wasn't what caused Shikaku to quit speaking however.

No, what caused him to stop talking were the strange tiny glowing orbs that fell from the tree.

"…is this snow?" A random nearby Shinobi asked.

"Idiot. Have you ever seen green snow?" Another Shinobi asked.

"Then what is it?"

"Hell if I know!" Before the two could continue an explosion pulled everyone back to their senses. The Otogakure Shinobi had gotten over their surprise and were attacking again.

They all rushed forward into battle. Yamato landed down from the building just as an exploding tag landed in front of him. "…Shit!" He had no chance of dodging. The tag exploded and he covered his face, waiting to be incinerated…yet nothing happened. "Huh?" Yamato slowly lowered his hands and opened his eyes. The green orbs in front of him shimmered brightly.

* * *

Zaku stood with his back to a wall as the rookies surrounded him. They didn't dare attack him though for he held a kunai to a young man's throat.

"Help me…" The man begged.

"Quiet!" Zaku pressed the kunai tighter to him.

"Let him go!" Kiba shouted.

Zaku began chuckling. Then he broke into wild laughter. "Say goodbye! You couldn't save everyone!" He began glowing yellow just as the green orbs began to fall around the section of the village they stood in as well. Zaku exploded.

"No!" Everyone shouted at once. The man disappeared in the explosion.

Kiba dropped to his knees and slammed his fist into the ground. "Damn it…damn it…damn it!" He shouted as he continued to punch the ground. Sakura and Ino averted their eyes sadly.

"Everyone…" Shino's voice was laced with awe, not an expression often heard from him. So naturally everyone turned to see what he was staring at.

The man who had been caught in the explosion lay unconscious on the crowd…but otherwise completely unharmed. "What the hell happened?" Multiple people asked at once.

Just then they saw all the Zakus in the area immediately taking off towards the giant tree located towards the edge of the village. They all immediately jumped to the highest nearby roof.

It wasn't only the Zakus. Every single Shinobi in the village, friend or foe was making their way with great haste to the tree. Shikamaru rubbed his chin. "Whatever just happened has to do with that tree. That means it has to be defended no matter what…"

"We're going too, aren't we?" Shino sounded apprehensive about the idea.

"Of course!" Kiba and Akamaru were already off.

"Kiba! Wait!" Sakura was after him a moment later. Soon the rest of the Genin were after them.

* * *

"Yamato…"

Yamato immediately stopped running and looked around. That had been Hashirama's voice. "Shodai-sama?" Yamato felt kind of stupid. He had seen the Shodai turn into a tree. There was no way he was talking to him. No one else had obviously heard it as everyone was running past him and towards the tree.

"Yamato…this is my final gift towards the village I love so much." Yamato realized a moment later that he wasn't crazy and that the Shodai's voice was coming from the green orbs. "This jutsu doesn't have enough power to protect everyone, but anyone not bearing a weapon I can protect from harm." Hashirama's voice continued quickly.

"These orbs are what saved me too, then?" Yamato realized now why he was still alive.

"I owed you a special favor. You are the only Shinobi this Jutsu will be able to protect." Yamato's face fell at that.

"You shouldn't have wasted it on me!" He shouted at the orbs.

"No…I wanted it to be you." Yamato's eyes widened in surprise. "Yamato…I'm glad Mokuton was entrusted to you."

"I can rest knowing it is in good hands."

"Yamato!" The wood user jumped in surprise as Kakashi landed next to him. "What's going on here?" The copy-ninja asked. "Civilians everywhere are suddenly being saved by these strange green orbs."

"It's Shodai-sama…" Yamato choked out, his vision slightly clouded by tears. "…he's protecting the village."

"So it is that tree! How youthful!" Guy landed next to both of them a moment later.

They all turned towards the massive trunk of the tree. Hundreds of Konoha Shinobi stood on its roots and on its trunk. Yet hundreds of Otogakure Shinobi were charging at it. The sight of the Nidaime and Hayate fighting caught Kakashi's eyes. "I got to go." He immediately took off towards the trunk.

Yamato and Guy were about to follow but Hiro landed in front of them. "Oh my god, you're multiplying!" Yamato shouted in terror as he jumped backwards.

"How rude." Hiro laughed loudly, contradicting the words he just spoke. "I'm afraid the controller of my body won't allow me to let you pass here, Guy. If you want to protect that tree you're going to have to stop me first."

"Fine by me!" Guy settled into his fighting stance. "Yamato! Get to the tree! Protect Shodai-sama's final memory with your life!"

"Right!" Yamato nodded. He flipped up to the roof of the nearest uncollapsed building and moved onwards towards the tree. He looked back just in time to see Guy and Hiro begin to exchange blows.

He landed on the tree and immediately was swarmed by a group of Otogakure Shinobi. "Mokuton no Jutsu!" The wood of the tree they were fighting on sprang to life and immediately sucked the group in front of him into itself.

"Nice…" Yamato smiled at how little chakra that technique had taken. The tree had supplied most of it for him. While fighting here, he was at the advantage.

The sound of fire reached his ears just moments later. He turned and saw every single Zaku in the village getting closer to the tree.

"Stop them!" A hailstorm of kunai and shuriken immediately wiped out the first wave but there were still hundreds more on the way.

Yamato sighed. He had just fought and won against the Shodai and yet all that had done was centered everything on one area, giving him no time to rest.

"…I guess this is what it means to be at war."

* * *

"You aren't going any farther!" Hiruzen shouted as he slammed his pole into Orochimaru's body, blasting him backwards and through a couple buildings. Asuma and Kurenai landed down next to him.

"We took care of the snakes." Asuma said as he readied his blades again. Things had gotten much quieter over here now. They were probably the only four Shinobi not at the tree right now and if they had their way Orochimaru wouldn't be getting even a single step closer.

The house that Orochimaru had finally stopped in exploded as a group of giant snakes were summoned from the inside of it. Asuma sighed. "So much for having taken care of the snakes."

"I leave it to you, son." Hiruzen gave him a small smile.

"Yeah, yeah. Take advantage of my kindness." Asuma nodded to Kurenai who was already preparing another genjutsu for the snakes.

"Sarutobi-sensei!" Orochimaru appeared him front of the old Shinobi, his eyes flared with fury and his sword swinging down.

"You are quick to anger as always, Orochimaru." Sarutobi spun his staff around and knocked Orochimaru's blade to the side. Before Orochimaru could react he spun it the other way and it smashed the Sannin in the throat.

Orochimaru gagged and began to cough so badly he doubled over and spit went flying. A second later and his whole body heaved. Suddenly he spit out another one of himself that had the lower half of a snake. "Now you're mine!" Sarutobi wasn't able to do anything as Orochimaru's surprise attack caught him off guard. Orochimaru sliced right through him with his blade…only for him to burst into smoke. "A shadow clone?"

"Doton: Doryudan no Jutsu!" Orochimaru spun around to see the head of a mud dragon spraying a group of mud bullets at him. "Katon: Karyudan no Jutsu!" Hiruzen then spit fire from his mouth onto the muddy bullets, creating balls of molten fire that rained down on the Sannin.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Orochimaru slammed his palms on the ground. A giant purple snake much bigger than all the ones he summoned before appeared coiled around him. The molten bullets slammed into the giant snake which let out a loud hiss in irritation.

"Sarutobi…that's Manda! The Lord of Snakes!" An eye appeared on the staff that used to be Enma as it warned the Hokage.

The old man only nodded. "I know. Orochimaru is beginning to get serious."

"Damn you…Orochimaru!" The snake continued to hiss as it talked. "The price for this will be high."

Orochimaru cackled as the snake uncoiled from around him. "I've already paid the ultimate price I'm afraid." The giant snake looked at him curiously before it turned its gaze at Sarutobi.

"It's been a long time since I've had monkey…sounds delicious." The snake lurched at Sarutobi who immediately jumped high into the air.

"Enma, extend!" He shouted as his staff grew to incredible lengths. He swung it in a long arc and before the snake could react he smashed it in the head.

"You've dropped your guard, sensei!" Orochimaru appeared above the old man and swung his sword down. Sarutobi flipped so that he was upside down and caught the sword with both of his sandals.

"Think again, my foolish student." Hiruzen spun around, snapping Orochimaru's wrist and breaking the sword free from his grasp. By then the staff had retracted and he was already bringing it back forward when he noticed Manda was already coming at them again. The only thing he had time to do was throw Enma towards the ground as the snake ate both Orochimaru and him.

"Sarutobi!" Enma shouted as he transformed back into a monkey.

"Hokage-sama!" Kurenai shouted in horror as she watched what had just happened.

"He'll be alright." Asuma dropped the last snake of the group they were fighting.

"How can you be so calm after watching your own father getting eaten?" Kurenai turned and yelled at him.

"Getting upset won't help matters. The best way to help my old man is to take care of that snake." Asuma slowly approached Manda as he talked.

The snake smiled hungrily at the two Jonin. Not a moment later though, and Enma's fist slammed into the bottom of the snake's jaw. "Get ready to experience pain." The monkey growled.

"Enma…I'm going to enjoy eating you yet." The snake immediately snapped down at the monkey. The snake smashed pointlessly into the ground. "What?" It looked around in surprise to see his whole word was dark. "Genjutsu…"

"You guessed it!" Asuma swung his chakra knives at the giant snake. To his surprise they failed to pierce his skin.

The snake chuckled as it turned its head towards them. "My scales are harder than diamond. It'll take more than your puny blades to cut me." The snake lurched at the two of them with speed much too fast for its size.

"It's using its others senses to find us!" Kurenai shouted as she and Asuma just barely dodged the strike of the snakes head.

"Then do something about them!" Asuma yelled back. He and Enma jumped at the snake at the same time.

"Remember not to hurt him badly enough to dispel him or Sarutobi will be teleported with him." Enma shouted.

"Tch…troublesome." Shikamaru's favorite phrase summed up the situation perfectly.

* * *

"Orochimaru, you fool!" Sarutobi shouted as he delivered three swift punches at his student. Orochimaru blocked the strikes with his forearms.

"What's the matter, sensei?" Orochimaru grinned wickedly as he and his sensei continued to exchange swift taijutsu strikes. "You don't like being inside the belly of a snake?" Sarutobi jumped and delivered a powerful kick that knocked the Sannin back into the sticky, pink wall that was part of the giant snake. To his surprise, Orochimaru sunk into the wall. "Surprised? This is my battlefield. You can't win here, Sarutobi-sensei."

Orochimaru's tongue, wrapped around a kunai, shot from the top-right part of the wall. Sarutobi went to move but couldn't as Orochimaru's hands grabbed at his ankles from below. "What?" He was only able to turn his body slightly and let the kunai pierce his shoulder instead of his heart. Sarutobi grabbed onto the tongue and yanked it hard, pulling Orochimaru's face from the wall.

"Hello, Sensei." Orochimaru spoke despite his tongue being held on to. Sarutobi pulled harder to get face closer but suddenly Orochimaru's legs shot out from the left and right side of the wall. They stretched impossibly long and the bottom of his feet smashed into the side of Sarutobi's head.

"Damn!" Sarutobi let the tongue go which immediately retracted. He then ripped his feet free and stumbled forward and away from all of his student's appendages. When he spun around however, they were all gone. It looked like they had never been there at all. The pain in his shoulder told him though that they had definitely been there however.

"Kukukuku…what to do, what to do? How will you get out of this mess, Sensei?" The voice mocked Sarutobi from all around. Before the old man could respond he felt something wet drop onto his shoulder. A hissing sound followed and he turned to see his protective shoulder pad being melted away.

"Looks like I have to finish this fast." Sarutobi sighed as he slowly inched his way across the bottom of the snake's insides, keeping an eye at the top which continued to drop more of the corrosive liquid.

"Finish this fast? Oh no…I intend to murder you nice and slow, Sensei. Make you suffer for not being brave enough to face me the first time." Orochimaru broke into another fit of laughter.

Just as he did, Sarutobi ran through a set of seals. "Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu!" He immediately released a giant fireball deeper into the snake's body.

"No!" Orochimaru's upper body suddenly sprung forth from the top, his hands outstretched. They wrapped around his sensei's neck. "How dare you scorch this place!" The Sannin shrieked.

"That was your biggest flaw, Orochimaru. You were too cocky." Sarutobi choked out as he grabbed onto his student's arms and yanked at him. Orochimaru was pulled completely from the wall just as the sound of something coming from the direction the fireball went reached their ears.

"What is that? What did you do?" Orochimaru yelled.

Sarutobi laughed. "You'll see my foolish student."

* * *

"This isn't working!" Asuma yelled as the house he had been hiding behind got devoured by the massive snake. "Just what kind of half-assed genjutsu are you using?" He shouted as he immediately began moving to another hiding space.

"You try putting the Lord of Snakes under a genjutsu some time!" Kurenai's forehead throbbed as she screamed back at him. "It's not as easy as it looks!"

"Enough arguing! Something is happening…" Enma said as he gazed curiously at the snake that had quit moving. Its neck suddenly began convulsing as it seemed ready to throw up.

"What's happening?" Kurenai asked in awe.

Manda opened his mouth wide and let out a loud…burp, blowing Orochimaru and Sarutobi from the snake's mouth.

"No way…" Enma wanted to smack his face. "Only Sarutobi would think of making a snake burp to free himself."

Asuma sighed and immediately lit up a cigarette. "I deny all relations to you…"

Even Kurenai sweat-dropped. "I may have just lost some respect for you…Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi however, was in no mode for jokes. "Asuma! Attack while its mouth is open!"

"Damn!" Asuma threw down his just lit cigarette. He immediately jumped so he was level with the snake and pointed his chakra blade so it was facing the snake's mouth. "Say goodnight." The wind blade shot forward and pierced Manda through the roof of his mouth, shooting it out the top of the giant snake's head. Manda immediately vanished in a cloud of smoke.

"You bastard!" Orochimaru screamed as he landed on the ground. Before he could charge at Asuma, Hiruzen landed in front of him.

"Not a step closer to my son!" He shouted as he buried his fist inside the Sannin's chin, knocking him into a collapsed building.

Orochimaru slowly stumbled to his feet. "I'm going to rip you apart." He seethed before suddenly pausing. His eyes were on something behind Sarutobi.

The Hokage turned around to see a blustered looking Temari sitting on her butt in front of a pile of rubble. Haku, Dosu, and finally Zabuza landed next to her. The swordsman gazed at Sarutobi in a way of apology.

"We're not interrupting are we?" He asked as blandly as he could.

"What is this?" Orochimaru asked as he got to his feet. "Not only is a Kunoichi from Sunagakure here, but so is my own henchmen."

"Former henchmen." Dosu suddenly shouted. "You would have left me for dead just like Kabuto did!"

Orochimaru's face twisted into a cruel snare. "I saved your life! It was mine to do with as I pleased!" His mouth opened and a dozen kunai fired from it, right at the group.

Zabuza stepped in between them and the kunai and swung his sword. "We'll get going, Hokage-sama!" Zabuza said as he formed a seal. A thick mist blew into the area.

Sarutobi nodded. "Good. Leave this to us." He turned back to his student.

"Smooth move, Shorty. Just provoke him some more." Temari whispered at Dosu as they quickly moved through the mist. Going through the village had been slow for the group as they had to sneak around in order to avoid fighting all of the Zakus. When they had all begun moving to the first gate, they immediately went to the fourth in hopes of finding no more enemies. Instead they stumbled upon the Hokage's battle of all the ones to stumble into.

"I'm not the one that slipped and fell down the rubble when I saw him. I wouldn't have had to say anything if not for you." Dosu whispered back.

"This technique only works if you idiots are quiet…" Zabuza was beginning to wonder why he had wanted a Genin team at all right about now.

"And just where do you think you're going?" Orochimaru asked from right in front of them.

Zabuza sighed. "You see…" He was already swinging his sword forward. Orochimaru's sword met his and a loud clang alerted the others to the presence of them all. "Go!" Zabuza shouted as he pushed back Orochimaru's blade.

"You go too!" Sarutobi appeared with Enma who was back in staff mode. "Shut down Abumi Zaku!"

"Right!" All four of them shouted as they finally ran passed the gates of the village.

"I won't let you!" Orochimaru shouted as his body began lurching. His feet transformed and heads began sprouting from his shoulders. Meanwhile, his arms seemed to melt into his torso as his body began to grow bigger and bigger. His transformation finished just as the mist cleared.

"Yamata no Jutsu!" The giant eight-headed snake roared as it stared down at Sarutobi.

"You…foolish student." Sarutobi stared up at the giant snake with pure pity in his eyes.

"Sarutobi! What are you going to do against that thing? It's huge! Bigger than Manda!" Enma shouted as the eye appeared again.

"…I have no choice." Sarutobi said as he placed Enma down. "Shiki Fujin." He began to form seals.

"No, you can't! That Jutsu will kill you. " Asuma yelled as he landed next to him.

"That's right!" Kurenai also appeared. "You're the Hokage!" Before they could argue anymore, the snake heads began to strike.

"There is no choice!" Sarutobi shouted as he jumped and ducked around the giant heads that smashed into the ground. "What other way is there to defeat an immortal?"

"I have a better suggestion." The snakeheads quit attacking and everyone turned their heads in surprise at the sound of the new voice.

There wasn't just one man standing there though. A whole army of Shinobi stood behind the man with white and blue robes that had spoke. His short, brown hair blew gently in the wind.

Sarutobi opened and closed his mouth. He then opened it back up.

"Kazekage-dono…"


	28. Invasion Part 3

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_Invasion (Part 3)_

* * *

"The Kazekage…" The giant eight-headed snake that had once been Orochimaru hissed. "…what are you doing here in this village? Could you have decided to lend me your aide?"

The Kazekage scoffed. "Don't get the wrong idea, Orochimaru. I am not here to honor our deal." He jumped down from the rubble he was standing on and landed next to Sarutobi. "I am replaying a debt to this village." The Hokage's eyes widened.

"You can't be serious!" The giant snake roared. All of the heads suddenly launched forward, prepared to strike down the two Kage where they stood.

"I am very serious." The Kazekage raised his arms and bright gold dust rose from groups of containers that his men had brought with them. It smashed into Orochimaru and sent his gigantic body flying across the block where it smashed down on top of several buildings.

Asuma let out a whistle. "Incredible...I've only heard stories of the Kazekage's magnetism Kekkei Genkai that allows him to control gold. He could have any woman he wanted with that ability."

Kurenai scoffed from right next to him.

"Everyone!" The Kazekage turned towards his subordinates. "Leave the gold dust with me! You all go back up the Shinobi of Konoha at the giant tree.

"Wait!" Hiruzen shouted before they could move. "What do you mean you owe us a debt? Just what is going on here?"

"I mean exactly what I said. We are here to ally ourselves with you in this battle." The Kazekage folded his arms and turned back to the old man. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"A debt…you can't mean because of your son's death?" The old man whispered darkly as he took a step closer.

"What if I do?"

Hiruzen opened his mouth but he felt Asuma's hand on his shoulder. The bearded man smiled at the Kazekage. "We appreciate your help. Please carry on with your orders."

The Kazekage nodded thankfully and turned around. "You heard me! Everyone get going!"

"Sir!" Many of the Sunagakure Shinobi immediately began migrating towards the tree.

Hiruzen grimaced. "Asuma, Kurenai, go with them and make sure our men know they are on our side."

"Right!" Kurenai and Asuma both hurried after them. Now only the two Kage remained.

"I expected this man to try to attack anyways. My hunch was right." The Kazekage also turned back towards Orochimaru.

"That is why you really left your daughter here, isn't it? To keep tabs on the village." Hiruzen mused quietly. He refused to look the Kazekage in the face.

"Are you upset because you discovered our plot to attack the village?" The Kazekage asked curiously.

"You should still be attacking us!" Hiruzen yelled as he spun on him. "One of my subordinates killed your son! Yet instead of being angry you are grateful!"

"…I see." The Kazekage nodded as he turned his gaze away from the old man. "As the father of boys yourself, I see how you can find it hard to understand, but you are wrong. I am not helping you because you killed my son. I am helping you because you saved my life."

"What?" Hiruzen asked in surprise. The Kazekage stared at Orochimaru's charging form.

"You planned to assassinate me before I came to this village, isn't that right, you snake?" He shouted. "We interrogated a subordinate of yours and he spilled everything!"

All eight of the snakeheads laughed loudly. "That's right! I was going to kill you so I could get close enough to sensei to fight him one on one!"

The Kazekage closed his eyes. "That's all I needed to hear. Hokage-dono. We will talk about the death of my son after this conflict is resolved." His eyes opened and a surge of killing intent flooded the area. "Right now though, I plan to kill the man I find most responsible!" The gold sand rose up behind him in a massive wave.

"You think you can defeat me? I had confidence that I could defeat you while I was mortal, you have no chance while I am immortal!" Orochimaru roared as he continued to charge at the two Kage.

"You planned to have extra subordinates and you planned to do it while I was off guard. Besides, I have the one hailed as The Professor with me. There isn't a chance we are going to lose." The Kazekage took a couple of steps forward, the golden dust raised menacingly behind him.

"You should know that just your dust alone won't be enough! I'm immortal!" All of the heads shouted as they lunged forward at the two Kage's.

"So you keep saying." The Kazekage mumbled darkly. Eight giant streams of gold dust raced past the two Kage and smashed into Orochimaru's heads. The snakeheads and streams of sand began twisting and coiling as they continually smashed into one another in an attempt to get the upper hand. Soon the dust began to completely envelope the giant eight-headed snake. In a matter of moments it was coated completely in gold. "Alright Professor, time to show me what you are capable of."

Sarutobi smiled as he cracked his neck. "Been a long time since I've been referred to as that. I guess as far as being a Kage goes I'm your senpai so I'll be sure not to let you down."

"You two are taking me too lightly!" Orochimaru yelled in anger. "Don't be so cocky!"

"You're the cocky one!" Sarutobi shouted as he finished forming a set of seals. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" He exhaled a fireball so big it easily enveloped the whole snake. The heat radiated so violently that both Kage squinted slightly and stepped back. Orochimaru's screams of pain erupted from inside of the giant blaze. Finally, the flames began to die down and the golden dust that had once coated the snake was now molten gold.

"Damn you! Damn you!" Orochimaru hollered as he continued to thrash about, splashing the gold everywhere.

"Time to cool him down. As the Kazekage I happen to know a couple wind techniques." The young Kage ran through several seals. "Fuuton: Kamikaze no Jutsu!" He exhaled a powerful gust of wind that immediately cooled down the gold enough so that Orochimaru's thrashing became stiff. In just a matter of moments he was no longer able to move at all.

"Did that get him?" Enma asked, his eye sticking out of the staff.

"Not likely. If my foolish student had one trait I could brag about it would be his tenacity." Sarutobi said as he lifted Enma and began to cautiously approach the statue-like snake.

The Kazekage took a couple steps forward as well. A moment later and they felt the ground beneath their feet shift. Sarutobi whirled around just in time to see Orochimaru's normal body break free from the ground behind the Kazekage, his sword in his hand. "Kazekage-dono!" Sarutobi shouted just as Orochimaru swung his sword down.

"How desperate." A stream of gold dust shot from the pouch on the Kazekage's hip and easily halted the swords movement.

"What?" Orochimaru was so surprised he wasn't able to counter Enma as he extended into his face, knocking him backwards and sending him rolling. "Damn you..." The Sannin mumbled as he got to his feet.

"You brought this on yourself." The Kazekage took a couple steps forward, the small stream of dust that had defended him morphed itself into a golden katana.

"Wait!" Orochimaru shouted as he held his hand in front of himself. "Are you sure you are making the right choice? What about your village? This is your chance, we can still topple Konoha together!"

"Speak again and I'll chop your tongue out." The Kazekage said darkly.

"These people killed your son!" A moment later and Orochimaru let out a scream of pain as the Kazekage kept his word and sliced his tongue out. Orochimaru turned around to run but Sarutobi was there. His tongue formed back as he gazed with pure contempt at the old man. "You think you've won, don't you Sarutobi-sensei? Well I've got news for you. This battle is far from won. This village will still fall."

"That's enough, Orochimaru." Sarutobi sighed. "You've done enough. You are going to have a long eternity to think how you've fallen so low."

Orochimaru began cackling madly. Both Kage shared a concerned glance before they looked back at the laughing man. "Do you know the way Kabuto made this body move?" Orochimaru waited only a second before he began to answer his own question. "He imprinted a seal inside of my body with a special set of commands. Do you know what the command is when I find myself in this type of a situation?"

Sarutobi already didn't like where this was going. "You can't mean-"

"An explosion using my very soul as its ignition! It will likely take half of the village with it! That bastard Kabuto would take away my finally attained immortality with a command like this!" A bright purple light began shining through the Sannin's pale skin.

"Orochimaru!" Sarutobi shouted as he took a step forward.

"There is no time for that!" The Kazekage shouted as he appeared next to Sarutobi, grabbed onto him and immediately warped them both back a large distance.

"What are you doing? We can't let that go off!" Sarutobi yelled. The wind was suddenly knocked out of him as the Kazekage buried his fist in his stomach. The Sandaime dropped to his knees and sent spit flying to the ground. "You…"

"I won't let this village be destroyed." The Kazekage said with resolve as he turned back to Orochimaru who was swirling with purple energy now. He raised his arms and the golden dust began swirling towards Orochimaru.

"Say goodbye to your precious village, Sarutobi-sensei!" Orochimaru was still laughing loudly as the light all closed on the center of his chest and then began expanding rapidly.

The golden dust compacted into a ball and began to close in, blocking out the purple light. The Kaekage began to sweat as the ball of dust was being pushed at by the explosion. "I won't let you..." He dropped to his knees and clenched his hands. The dust suddenly compacted completely as it sealed off the explosion.

Silence. Complete silence settled over the small area. "Did you...stop it?" Sarutobi finally asked.

The Kazekage was panting heavily as he stumbled up to his feet. "Of course. Nothing could possibly penetrate through my shield of gold. Whether that be from the inside or outside. It is the ultimate absolute defense."

"Incredible." Sarutobi gazed at glittering dust as it all began to flow towards them.

"Do you think he is really gone?"

Hiruzen nodded his head. "He said it himself, he blew up his very soul for that explosion. He's not coming back."

The Kazekage nodded as he folded his arms. "Then it would appear our job over here is finished. We must back our men up at the tree."

Sarutobi nodded. "I owe you my thanks in coming to save my village. I also would like to apologize. I was rude to you earlier." Sarutobi bowed low to the young Kage in front of him.

"Save that kind of stuff for after we survive this battle." The Kazekage said as he began to move forward slowly. "There will be plenty of time for diplomacy then."

Hiruzen readjusted his helmet. "Yes. For now we have to continue to defend this village."

They both said the next words together.

"We'll show them not to mess with a Kage."

* * *

The rookies took cover behind a large pile of rubble just in front of the base of the massive tree. "That thing is huge…" Sakura whispered in awe at it. "I think it's even taller than the Hokage Monument."

"We're not here to sightsee." Kiba chided his teammate quietly as he stared intently at the all the battles erupting around the tree. He couldn't even believe it himself. Explosions, elemental Jutsu, and thrown projectiles were constantly within sight. Hundreds upon hundreds of Shinobi were fighting from underneath the roots of the tree to way high on the trunk and even in the branches that were at least a hundred stories in the air.

"We might be in over our heads." Shikamaru noted with a dry mouth as he too watched all the battles. He however was more intent on all the Zakus that were buzzing around the roots, attempting to set fire to the base of the tree. While it seemed like they had done a good job in killing a couple dozen of them there was easily a thousand more. "That kid may not be powerful but he definitely makes up for it with quantity. Who knows how many people he's killed simply by self-destructing." As he said that he watched as a couple Jonin were caught in the blast of a Zaku that had just exploded.

"Why aren't these green orbs protecting Shinobi?" Ino asked as she lightly snatched at an orb. It somehow seemed to sense it and evaded her hand. "It is only working on civilians."

Shino adjusted his glasses. "The jutsu likely doesn't have the strength to protect so many people. We should be thankful it is doing as much as it is."

"Wait a second…a huge group of people is approaching…" Kiba rose his nose into the air and sniffed loudly. "…that smell. It couldn't be."

"What is it?" Sakura asked.

"They're definitely from Sunagakure." Just as Kiba finished speaking, dozens of men and women garbed in light brown Chunin vest arrived on the scene and launched attacks at Zakus and Otogakure Shinobi alike.

"They're helping us?" Choji asked in surprise. "Why?"

"I got a feeling I know." Sakura said as she smiled happily at the reinforcements. She watched as all the Konoha Shinobi turned slightly in surprise at the arrival of their new comrades but they quickly renewed their attack with newfound vigor.

Ino suddenly shrieked loudly, causing everyone to jump and look at her. To their surprise she wasn't under attack. Instead she was pointed up at the giant tree. "That's…that's the Nidaime!" She shouted.

"Impossible." Shikamaru turned his gaze to where she was pointing anyways. His eyes nearly bugged from his sockets when he saw Ino was right.

"Something is amiss. Is that not Hatake Kakashi engaged in combat with him?" Shino suddenly voiced up.

"You're right." Choji watched as the two men punched and kicked at one another. "Just what is going on?" Before anyone could ask anymore, they watched the tournament referee, Hayate run forward and slice the Nidaime's head off with his blade.

To everyone's continued surprise, it grew back on. "We're definitely in over our heads. We need to retreat." Shikamaru turned back around but stopped dead in his tracks. "Everyone move!" He shouted a second later.

All the Genin spun around and saw a hailstorm of kunai coming at them. "Oh crap!" They all immediately jumped skywards and landed on top of the pile of rubble they had been hiding behind. The kunai struck the pieces of concrete and bounced lightly off, but the flickering of tags on the back caught Shino's eyes.

"Not good…" He mumbled as the explosions went off. None of them were caught in the blasts but the rubble they were standing on collapsed and they all tumbled unceremoniously towards the ground.

Kiba barely managed to land on his feet and he immediately noticed Aakamaru laying on the ground, morphed back into a dog. "Are you all alright?" He shouted as he ran up to him.

"Shino!" Sakura screamed worriedly. The bug-user was writhing in pain, holding onto the spot where his arm had been severed. "Someone help him! He's in great pain!" Sakura looked around frantically. What she saw first only made her more frantic. Choji was leaning an unconscious Ino and Shikamaru up against smaller mounds of rubble.

Kiba scooped Akamaru up but before he could run at them he saw four figures land in the spot close to where they had just been standing. He didn't like what he saw. Four Otogakure Jonin stood in front of him and they were likely the ones who had thrown the kunai. "Aww…man." One of them sighed loudly. "It's just a group of kids! I was hoping to slaughter someone stronger than that!" He flipped a kunai in the air as he talked and caught it.

"Who cares who it is? Let's slaughter them and move on!" The other said as he began to form seals.

"Stop right there!" Kiba shouted as he slipped Akamaru into the hood of his jacket and then pulled out two kunai.

The men chuckled at him. "You think you can take us kid?"

Suddenly, a giant purple beam came flying from the side that eradicated three of the Otogakure Shinobi. Kiba and the remaining Otogakure Shinobi widened their eyes in surprise.

"Yes! I killed them!" Screamed a dark-skinned man with orange hair.

"Jugo! We're your allies damn it!" The remaining man shouted.

"Kill!" The monstrous youth called Jugo screamed as his one arm formed into a giant axe. He swung it forward and hacked the Shinobi unfortunate enough to be in front of him apart. "I killed him too! I did it!" Jugo screamed happily.

"…What a psycho." Kiba couldn't believe what he had just witnessed in front of his very eyes. He recognized the man as one who obvious bared one of Orochimaru's curse marks. He had seen at least another fifty of them running around and fighting at the base of the tree just moments ago. It was their bad luck that an especially unstable one seemed to have found them.

"Are you next?" Jugo tilted his head to a right angle as he grinned greedily at Kiba now. "Are you the next one I get to kill?" He immediately began to sprint towards the young Genin, his axe-shaped arm held high above his head.

"This is not looking good." Kiba slid one foot backwards and raised both kunai in front of himself. Then something running out from the side of caught his eye.

"No you don't!" Choji held up a massive arm that looked like it had been inflated. He swung it forward and it smashed into Jugo's face with such force that any ordinary person would have been blasted off their feet. Jugo however, didn't even seem phased. Instead he slowly turned his grinning face towards Choji now.

The heavy-set Genin took a step back in fear. "Is it you who wants to be killed next?" Jugo roared as he swung his axe-arm forward. His movements stopped in their tracks. His axe-arm retracted and he raised his two normal hands to his head and started screaming.

Kiba spun his gaze to Sakura who was holding her hands in a seal. "I put him in a genjutsu that makes him think he's on fire." She explained as she got to her feet. "We need to use this chance to get the others out of here."

Kiba nodded and ran over to grab Ino but Jugo's screams suddenly intensified stopping them all as they watched him freak out.

"It hurts! It hurts!" Jugo screamed as his body seemed to be reconstructing itself. He seemly doubled in size as giant pads of armor made of his skin wrapped around him. His enhanced size seemed to increase his weight too, as his feet sunk slightly into the ground, cracking the earth and splitting the concrete he stood on.

"What the heck is going on?" Sakura felt her knees go weak from the amount of killing intent being leaked from the boy's body. "His chakra flow changed completely."

"That means he broke the genjutsu, huh?" Kiba had a bad feeling about this.

"Yeah, it does." Sakura nodded dumbly.

"Was it you? Was it you that caused me pain?" Jugo screamed as he began charging at Kiba like a stampeding gorilla. "I'll kill you for it! I'll rip you apart!"

"Damn it!" Kiba whipped both kunai at him. To his utter horror, they bounced off of Jugo's enhanced armor like it had only been a small rock. "This is _really _not looking good." Before he could react further, a ball at the end of a long chain swung around and immediately bound Jugo's huge body. The giant man collapsed to the ground in a loud thud that sent pieces of concrete flying everywhere.

Next a series of fireballs came flying around and began pelting the massive body of the big man, exploding and covering him in smoke at the same time.

Sakura turned to the people who had saved them. Her eyes widened in surprise when she realized who it was. "Sasuke-kun! Tenten-san!"

The two of them landed down next to Kiba who quickly saw they looked a little worse for wear themselves. "You two sure you should be out here after just fighting in the tournament?"

Tenten scoffed. "Just cause we lost doesn't mean you should underestimate us. Right, Sasuke?"

The Uchiha nodded. "We'll show that we deserved to get as far as we got while you get the others to a safe place."

"We can't let you guys fight this monster by yourselves!" Sakura yelled.

"We'll be fine; you need to get your teammates to safety. Worry about us later." Sasuke turned and looked at her as he reassured her. "This battle is bound to have attracted more enemies. The only reason they haven't shown up is because everyone is clearly afraid of this guy. If you bring him down before getting everyone to safety you are only putting their lives in greater danger."

Kiba scoffed. "Why is it always us that is being saved?" He grumbled as he picked Ino up .Meanwhile, Sakura hefted Shino to his feet and Choji had Shikamaru already.

"If you got it then hurry up." Tenten said as the smoke around Jugo finally cleared. "That guy shrunk down to normal and broke free from my chains."

"Sorry for being a burden." Shino mumbled quietly as he cringed. The spot where he had lost his arm was burning with pain.

"Don't worry about it." Sakura said soothingly. "You're still not up to top form is all. Once you are you can return the favor." She immediately began running towards the roots as there were plenty of spaces to hide in there.

Kiba and Choji were right behind her. "Do you guys hear something giant moving?" Sakura asked before they got more than even a single block. Sakura slowed up a stop and the others did too. They all then jumped on top of another pile of rubble to get a better vantage point. What they saw completely threw them all off guard.

A wave of golden dust was flowing towards the tree at incredible speeds. That wasn't what got them the most though. On top of the gold wave rode not just their Hokage but the apparent Kazekage as well.

"This invasion just keeps getting more and more bizarre." Choji really wished he had something to munch on. The others could only nod in agreement to his statement.

* * *

Sasuke and Tenten had no time to be paying attention to such things, however. Jugo was charging right at them, and this time his whole body was covered with giant spikes. "You think we're going to be okay? This guy did kill a group of Jonin just now." Tenten placed her hand on a scroll on her hip. A scythe popped out of it and she spun it around expertly.

Sasuke smirked as he formed a set of seals. "Those guys were a group of nobodies. We got this." When he finished speaking he inhaled deeply. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" He shot a giant fireball straight in front of himself.

"I'll just kill that too!" Jugo laughed manically as he charged straight into the fireball, obliterating it completely. To his surprise though, in the brief second the fire had blocked his vison, Sasuke and Tenten had both vanished.

"Looking for me?" Jugo spun around to see Sasuke standing on top of a still standing lamppost. He pulled at a group of barely visible wires and Jugo felt his limbs become bounded once again.

"Now take this!" Tenten screamed as she appeared over his head, swinging down the scythe in her hand. Jugo, instead of looking afraid, smiled for a brief moment. He then opened his mouth wide and as the scythe reached his face he bit down, shattering the metal with his teeth. "Damn…never seen that before." Tenten landed in a crouch in front of the towering youth, she immediately held a small sword in her hand.

"Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu!" Sasuke set the strings that bound Jugo on fire and the fire quickly raced down towards the still bounded monster.

"No more fire!" Jugo screamed as all the spikes on his body sunk back in. They immediately sprouted back out in different spots, snapping Sasuke's wires apart and breaking Tenten's blade that she had just swung forward. "Now die!" Jugo's whole arm had transformed into a giant spike and he swung it down at Tenten.

"That's really getting old." Tenten mumbled as she flipped backwards and over the spike that smashed pointlessly into the ground. She threw a group of shuriken before her feat even touched the ground. Unsurprisingly, the shuriken bounced off uselessly.

"Killing never gets old!" Jugo pulled his arm out of the ground but the sound of chirping birds stopped him from charging forward.

"Chidori!" Sasuke roared as he fell towards his opponent, his lightning-enhanced hand outstretched towards him. Jugo grinned as he turned at Sasuke and swung his spiked-arm forward. Their piercing attacks connected and Sasuke's shattered through Jugo's completely.

Sasuke continued on into Jugo's arm until he flew past the shoulder, successfully destroying his arm entirely. "Gah!" Jugo reached around and grabbed onto his shoulder, holding onto it with all his might. The rest of his spikes disappeared as he fell to his knees. "…It hurts." He whimpered.

"Not as bad as this will!" Tenten spun around and hurled a massive, spiked ball. The ball smashed Jugo right in the chest, bowling the big boy over. The ball bounced backwards slightly and Sasuke's eye caught a glimpse of the exploding tags covering it. The explosions went off a moment later.

Sasuke appeared next to Tenten unharmed but glaring angrily. "Wait for me to get clear before you do something like that! I could have died!"

"You wouldn't have died." Tenten patted him on the shoulder with a huge grin plastered on her face. "We've gotten to know each other too well to make a rookie mistake like that."

"You're nuts." Sasuke shook his head indignantly as he turned back to the clearing smoke. Jugo lay there with his whole chest blown open, revealing his ribs and some of his organs. A truly disgusting sight, thought the surviving Uchiha.

Jugo's remaining arm was stretched far to the side and it was just then that he noticed a strange needle was sticking out of it. He followed the needle to see that it connected to the Otogakure Jonin that Jugo had cut down earlier. Lumps of something were coming back through the needle towards Jugo and the man seemed to be shrinking. "Oh Crap!" Sasuke realized too late what was going on as he charged forward.

"What is it?" Tenten, who hadn't been paying attention now saw what Sasuke had just seen. "Damn." She too ran after him.

Jugo's chest repaired itself and he stumbled up to feet, retracting the needle. "You can't kill me, it is I who will kill you!" He screamed at the charging Sasuke. It was then that his other arm completely grew back all at once.

"What?" Sasuke stopped hard as Jugo's arm grew until it was triple in size. He then swung it forward in a large arc.

"Sasuke!" Tenten screamed as she watched Jugo swat her teammate to the side like an insect.

"I killed him!" Jugo screamed loudly into the air as he raised his arms triumphantly.

"Think again!" Sasuke's hands shot from the ground underneath Jugo's feat. Before the bigger boy could react, he was sucked into the ground and Sasuke was flying overhead. "Tenten, now!"

"Nice work!" Tenten glanced ever so briefly at what once would have been Sasuke and saw a log was there instead. She then pulled a windmill shuriken from her scroll and threw it at Jugo's head that still stuck out of the ground.

"You should have been killed!" Jugo showed no interest in the shuriken flying at his head. Instead he glared angrily at Sasuke who again landed on top of the lamppost. The ground ruptured as two wings split off of his back and he took flight into the air, completely dodging the shuriken that continued straight on.

"This guy can fly too?" Sasuke was starting to get really annoyed. First he could morph his body at will, but now he could regenerate damage and fly. That was too much. It didn't help that he kept saying the word "kill" which was possibly more annoying than everything else together.

The sight of Tenten's Shuriken changing course caught his eyes now. It flew straight up until it was well over their heads and then began to angle its way back down. It was on a collision course with Jugo who had again transformed his right arm into a giant axe. Sasuke was even more impressed when he saw the shuriken break off into two, each one slicing off one of Jugo's wings. "Not bad, Tenten." He nodded down towards his teammate.

"Are you the one interrupting my kill?" Jugo screamed as he landed on the ground on his feet. He didn't seem at all hurt by the fact that his wings had been cut off but he was definitely peeved.

"Enough with the freaking 'K' word already!" Tenten held the side of her head in irritation. She then pointed dramatically at Jugo. "You're turning into one of those main characters that overuses his catchphrase! Don't you know that is the best way to get people to hate you?"

Jugo stared at her with an expression that could have been an odd mix of anger, confusion, and constipation. Sasuke just shook his head. He felt stupid for having been impressed with her at all.

"I'm not sure what you mean…" Jugo's body began morphing again and he again looked like he had a group of smokestacks sticking out of him. "…so I'll just kill you instead." Instead of a beam a miniature barrage of purple chakra missiles shot from the smokestacks and flew straight at Tenten.

"That right there is what I'm talking about!" Tenten continued to point at him, braving the missiles to scold her opponent.

"Come on." Sasuke appeared behind her with a tired face. "You can argue about stupid things with your friends later." He wrapped his arm around her waist and immediately warped them both to a safer location.

"That guy is not my friend!" Tenten screamed before she felt Sasuke cover her mouth with his hand.

"Where did you go? Come back!" Tenten realized that Sasuke had jumped the two of them behind a small stack of rubble. Her yelling had almost given them away.

"We need to come up with a better strategy to beat this guy." Sasuke whispered as he peeked over the rubble. "No matter what we do he just regenerates or changes forms to match whatever we use."

"We got him that one time. We just weren't thorough enough." Tenten rolled over onto her stomach and also peaked over the rubble. Jugo walked up to a random building and fired his purple chakra missiles into it, completely destroying the establishment.

"Were you in there? Did that kill you?" Tenten shivered in irritation at the use of that word again.

"Maybe you're right. He can definitely regenerate his skin but what about his heart? If we can open him up like before and attack it I wonder if it would put him down for good?" Sasuke mused quietly as he rubbed his chin.

"If I open him back up do you think you could use the Chidori to do the job?" Tenten wasn't sure if it was much, but any plan was better than none and they needed one fast. The things Jugo was blowing up was getting closer and closer to their hiding place.

Sasuke grimaced at the suggestion. "It depends. I've already used it twice today which is still my limit. However, if those medics healed me enough after my battle with Naruto, I may be able to squeeze one out."

"What would you give for odds?" Tenten asked hopefully. The pile of rubble next to them exploded in a blast of purple smoke.

"Fifty/fifty." Sasuke said after a moment of thought. Jugo turned his huge body to the pile of rubble they were behind.

"That's going to have to work. We're out of time. Our lives are riding on this gamble." Jugo fired off another set of missiles at them. "You hide until I open him up! Then charge in, no hesitation!" Tenten yelled as she jumped straight into the air. As she flipped around she watched Sasuke vanish to another location just before the place they had been hiding got blasted apart.

"I found you!" Jugo yelled as he turned towards the sky where Tenten was. He fired off yet another barrage of missiles.

"You sure did." Tenten hurled a group of kunai that met with the missiles, causing them to explode in midair. Watching that gave the weapon-expert an idea. She smiled mischievously as she fell towards the ground. She pulled what could be mistaken as a cannonball attached to a short chain just before she hit the ground. She then heaved it up with great effort. "I forgot how heavy this damn thing was. No wonder I hate using it."

"So you've decided that you are the one is going to be killed?" Jugo began firing the missiles off non-stop. He almost looked like a machine-gun with the way he kept firing off more and more.

Tenten quickly started running in a zigzag pattern towards giant killing machine, a vein in her head throbbing. "I thought I told you to quit it with that!" She roared as she dodged explosions on all sides as she got closer and closer.

Jugo was laughing maniacally. "What are you going to do? You can't possibly stop me from saying the truth!"

"Just watch me!" Tenten halted in her tracks and spun in a circle, swinging the metal ball from the end of its chain. With a loud yell of exertion she completed her spin and whipped the ball with all her might at Jugo.

The boy only laughed as it flew at him, his cannons still firing constantly. "As if that could even scratch me!"

"Oh, it will…" Tenten smirked as explosions erupted all around her.

"Huh?" Jugo was completely taken aback as the ball didn't exactly hit him but slid snuggly inside one of the smokestacks he was firing from. "Oh..Sh-" He never got to finish that as the pressure of a missile trying to be released from that smokestack caused it to explode, literally blowing up in Jugo's face. He tumbled backwards as his flesh was blown apart, opening way to his organs once again.

"Sasuke! Now's your chance!" Tenten yelled just as the last missile Jugo had managed to fire landed right in front of her feet. She was blasted backwards and sent rolling onto the ground.

"Ugh…" She moaned as she opened one eye just half-way. To her relief Sasuke was already charging at Jugo who had fallen to his knees. To her fear however, he did not have a Chidori in hand. Instead he ran at the man with a kunai.

Jugo stared at him with a look of pure rage. "That little toy won't be enough to stop me!"

"It's going to have to be!" Sasuke shouted as he swung it forward, right at Jugo's exposed heart. He wasn't able to react in time however when Jugo's arm shot forward and caught it. "What?" Sasuke couldn't believe he had the strength left to do something like that with a hole that big in him.

"Now give me your body so I can heal my own!" Jugo raised his other hand and slammed it down on top of Sasuke's head. The Uchiha was smashed painfully into the ground at Jugo's knees.

He turned his gaze upwards slightly to see the needle Jugo had used earlier begin to come out of his open palm. "Tenten…" Sasuke mumbled in a barely audible voice. "…I'm sorry. I couldn't use another Chidori after all. I didn't have the strength." The needle was coming closer and closer to his flesh.

"_This fight is over when I say it's over, Sasuke!"_ The Uchiha's eyes snapped completely open. Those had been Naruto's last words when he had won that fight. Where had he found that strength from? The resolve to push himself just another move further? Sasuke wanted to laugh. In his final moments he thought about Naruto?

"Sasuke, don't give up! Believe in yourself!" Tenten screamed as she stumbled forward but collapsed again.

"Believe in myself?" Sasuke asked. The needle was inches away. Was that what it had been all along? Just the ability to believe and the strength to not give up? Sasuke had no idea but he felt something welling up in the bottom of his stomach. Something powerful.

His hand shot up and grabbed onto the needle just before it pierced him. "What are you doing?" Jugo sounded almost mocking as he stared down at his beaten opponent.

"I'm stopping you." Sasuke's hand began shaking violently as he pushed Jugo's needle up. Slowly but surely he managed to do so. Soon he put his other hand on the ground as he helped himself to his knees and pushed Jugo back farther.

"…You can't possibly do this!" Jugo couldn't believe he was being overpowered by this little whelp. "This fight is already over!" Sasuke finally rose to his feet and threw Jugo's arm to the side. He then formed three seals and held his hand up. A blue blade of electricity formed and he slowly brought it back into striking position.

"This fight is over when I say it's over!" He shouted as he took the last step forward and swung his attack around. "Chidori!"

"No! You can't kill me!" Jugo raised both arms over his heart but Sasuke pierced through them easily. His attack carried on flawlessly and struck Jugo right in the heart.

The light slowly dimmed from the giant boy's eyes as Sasuke pulled his hand backwards. It was stained heavily with blood. With a loud thud, Jugo collapsed to the floor at Sasuke's feet.

"Sasuke!" Tenten finally reached the Uchiha but tumbled. She fell into Sasuke and had to lean against him for support. "You asshole!" She screamed as she recovered and then slapped him in the face.

"What the hell was that for?" Sasuke asked as he took a step back and raised his hand to his face.

"For scaring me! I thought he was about to kill you! You should've just stuck with the plan from the beginning!" Tenten stared at Sasuke with blazing eyes.

Sasuke scoffed and averted his eyes. "It was a stupid plan. I thought my way would have worked better."

"Bull…I saw you whisper your apology." Tenten placed her hands on her hips as she continued to glare at him.

"If you heard that then you know why I didn't keep to the plan!" Sasuke turned back to her as he yelled.

Tenten opened her mouth to respond but the sound of something flying overhead caused her to stop and look up. Sasuke followed her gaze. Flying straight down at them were three more Zakus.

"Damn…" Sasuke mumbled as he and Tenten immediately began to limp away, using each other as support.

"Where do you think you're going, Uchiha! I owe you one for what happened in the forest!" All three Zakus yelled at the same time. One of them opened his mouth the metal wire shot out from it and wrapped around the two of them. "Take this!" He shouted as it spun the around in a wide arc before slamming them into a wall. "Now have fun in hell!" All three Zaku opened their chests up, prepared to fire more kunai.

"Not so fast!" A gray spinning drill smashed into one of the Zaku, freeing Sasuke and Tentne in the process.

The other two turned around and prepared to shoot the kunai but one got hit with a kunai that exploded a moment later and Choji appeared and smashed the other with his giant fist.

"You guys okay?" Sakura asked as she landed next to them and pulled them free from the metal cord.

"Thanks to you guys." Tenten nodded thankfully at Sakura who was pulling her to her feet.

"We said we would be back." Kiba landed on all fours on the ground.

Choji meanwhile inspected Jugo's dead body. "I'm really surprised you guys got him. He was such a monster. One look from him and I was frozen."

"Trust us, it wasn't easy." Sasuke mumbled as he finally got to his own feet. "So what's the plan from here?"

"We thought you guys had a plan."

* * *

Kabuto grinned maliciously as Lee charged at him in his usual taijutsu stance with one arm forward and the other held behind his back. "What a hasty guy…you didn't even let me announce the winner. Where is the fun in that?"

"There is no more time for your fun!" Lee shouted as he jumped high into the air. He seemed to hang suspended for just a moment before his body burst into action and he spun around, delivering his signature spinning kick. "Konoha Senpu!"

Kabuto sighed in what sounded like pity as he raised his hand into the air. Without any effort whatsoever he caught Lee right by his orange-legwarmer. "Allow me to show you the difference between a Jonin and a Genin." He was already swinging Lee down as he spoke. Lee was smashed with great force into the water in front of Kabuto's feet.

The white-haired man crouched down and stared at Lee's face that was just barely above the water. "You see? It's not a matter of fate, hard work, or believing in yourself this time. It's simply the difference in strength between you and me." Kabuto had yet to let go of Lee's leg and he suddenly jerked up on it, pulling Lee into the air. "Now be a good boy and let me finish up with my business." He threw Lee halfway across the stadium with the barest of movement from his arm.

Lee slammed into the water with a loud smash and Kabuto turned back towards Naruto with a satisfied smirk on his face. "Now then, where were we?" He asked as he walked up to Naruto, scalpel in hand.

"We were at the part where we kicked your ass and saved the village from otherwise certain doom." Naruto flashed Kabuto a foxy smile as he laced his voice with heavy sarcasm.

"Ah, yes!" Kabuto hit his open palm with the bottom of the kunai. "I remember that now." A moment later and the sound of something piercing flesh reached Naruto's ears. He looked down in surprise to see that Kabuto had stabbed into him right on the edge of his seal, just barely missing it. When Kabuto next spoke, his voice was dark and terrifying. "You think the situation you're in is something you can laugh off?" He asked as Naruto attempted to keep his face straight through the pain. "Well?" He twisted the scalpel and Naruto let out a small moan.

"I didn't think so." The moan seemed to satisfy Kabuto as he pulled the scapel out of Naruto's stomach. "You are about to have the Kyuubi extracted from your body. A process that will also rip the very life out of you. You should think your last minutes out a little more carefully, don't you think?"

"Could it be…that you, Kabuto, are afraid of your own death?" Naruto gave Kabuto an incredibly pained smile until the back of Kabuto's hand smashed into his cheek. Naruto spit blood and some began to dribble down the side of his chin as well.

"I do not fear death." Kabuto seethed darkly. "I view it as the next step in my journey towards learning the mystery behind this world."

"Maybe instead of worrying about why it's here you should be worrying about what you can do to make life better here?" Naruto flinched slightly as he expected another blow to follow his statement but none came. Instead, Kabuto stared at him evenly.

"I am making this world better…better for myself. Once this village is down, I shall move onto the next one. Then the next. I will conquer them all, gaining in strength and knowledge as I revive each village's heroes and gather the Bijuu." Kabuto rubbed Naruto's cheek gently as he said these things in an even gentler tone.

"I thought this was for science?" Naruto did not like the way this guy was touching him one bit and the disgust showed on his face.

"Oh it is." Kabuto assured. "When I rule the whole world I'll be able to study and experiment as I please. Nothing will be taboo anymore and I will have infinite resources. It all starts here, with you, Naruto-kun." Kabuto ripped Naruto's green jacket open by the zipper, revealing his seal for him to see.

"Not if I have anything to say about it." Kabuto's anger resurfaced with full force as he spun around to see Lee standing again and staring at him.

"You just don't know how to quit." Kabuto sighed as he massaged his forehead. "I guess this is also my fault for not just killing you in the first place." He raised the scalpel up. "Come and die then."

Hinata watched intently as Lee did just that and charged forward. She nodded lightly to herself. The time was now. She had been lying motionless so she could gather her chakra and be of help but the time for that was over. She closed her eyes and focused. She could see over which of her chakra points the ropes of water wrapped around. Exerting chakra from those points she snapped the ropes apart like they were paper. She was immediately up and running. "Lee-senpai!" She shouted.

"What?" Kabuto turned an annoyed eye towards her now too. "So you both want to die now, is it? I had expected more from you, little Hinata."

"Lee-senpai!" Hinata repeated as she ran not towards Kabuto but straight on a collision course towards Lee. "Open the first gate! Let's use _that_ move!"

"Right!" Lee shouted as he unwrapped his bandages.

"?" Kabuto didn't like the sound of that. He started to move forward but the two of them were already together.

"First Gate: Open!" Lee shouted as his arm bandages began to wrap around Hinata's body. He snapped them tight and jumped high into the air, taking her with him. As they reached the height of their arc he began spinning rapidly.

"Hakkesho Kaiten: Attack Mode!" They shouted together as Hinata's spinning shield turned into a deadly drill that began flying at Kabuto.

The glasses-wearing Shinobi realized instantly that there would be no possible way of stopping that for him. So he did the one thing he could do. He spun around and slashed at Naruto. His scalpel just barely grazed him when the drill arrived. It just barely nicked Kabuto, sending him flying to the side from the force of the rotation and tearing into the skin around his ribs.

Naruto gave a huge smile as he swung his legs up, letting his teammates successfully smash the bottom of the cross. A moment later and Naruto was sent flying through the air, the cross crumbling apart, allowing Naruto to pull his hands free. The two kunai that had bounded him fell towards the water.

He landed right next to Lee and Hinata who stopped their spin and separated from each other. "Thanks guys, it was really uncomfortable being pinned to that thing."

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata shouted as she jumped onto him, giving him a big hug and burying her face in his shoulder.

"Hey, hey…" Naruto sighed happily despite the situation. Hinata was the same as always. Suddenly though, he cringed and buckled down to one knee.

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked worriedly. Just a moment later and she was shoved violently backwards by a burst of red chakra that began to leak out of Naruto's body. It grew even more violent and started to swirl at high speeds, pushing even the water back. A fox head made entirely of chakra rose above his head as the chakra gathered wildly in that spot. "What is going on?"

Kabuto chuckled as he got up to his feet. He held his hand over his ribs, healing the skin that had been ripped apart by Lee and Hinata's combination attack. "I told you, that cross allowed me to operate on special chakras. Just before you hit me I made sure to operate a little."

Hinata, Lee and Naruto all turned their heads down to look at his seal. Hinata and Lee couldn't see clearly from the violent wave of red chakra that was pushing them back. To Naruto though it was as clear as day. In the center of his seal was a small swirl. However, his swirl now had a straight clear line going through it, showing skin where should have otherwise been black. "You only swiped it just a little!" Naruto turned and yelled at the white-haired man.

"That was all that was necessary." Kabuto smirked as he readjusted his glasses. "With a crack that big in the seal the Kyuubi can easily finish the rest."

"Then what was with dragging it out like you did! You could have done this forever ago!" Naruto began to crumpled more under the increased strain he was feeling and he began to sweat from the intense heat inside the zone. The fox head above him was beginning to get much bigger and it had sprouted a neck now too.

Kabuto laughed louder. "I told you! I like to enjoy myself! This village can't stop me anyways, it doesn't matter how long I delay."

"You bastard…" Naruto attempted to stand up but it felt like his gravity had increased dramatically within the zone of red chakra.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata startled Naruto by her proximity. He turned to see her just a couple feet away from him, inside the mass of swirling red chakra.

"Hinata! What are you doing? Get out of here!" Naruto screamed at her.

Hinata shook her head stubbornly. "Not without you!" She finally dropped to her knees just in front of him. She clasped her hands around his. "I won't ever leave you!"

"Hinata…" Naruto couldn't think of anything to say. Instead he settled on a determined stare. "I won't let this thing free, Hinata. He's staying right where he belongs and then we're going to kick this guy's ass together." Hinata nodded enthusiastically to his words. Neither of them paid attention the fact that part of the fox's body was beginning to grow over their heads.

"You can do it, Naruto-kun. I believe in you." She squeezed his hands harder as they felt themselves continued to be crushed by the increased pressure. "If only I knew something about seals, then I could repair it." She mumbled as she stared down at it.

Naruto widened his eyes at Hinata's words. "That's it!" He shouted as he held his right hand up. To his relief it was still openly bleeding. The chakra leaking out of him wasn't going to healing. He mixed the blood on his three inside fingers and then looked down at the seal. With three precise strokes he covered the missing parts of the seal with his blood.

The effect was instantaneous. The fox head made of chakra crumbled away completely and the chakra quit swirling nearly as madly as before. The heat died down and ever so slowly all that chakra began to return to his body.

"What did you do?" Kabuto suddenly bellowed at the top of his lungs.

Hinata looked at him incredulously. "What _did_ you do?" She repeated.

Naruto smirked as he stood up. "I fixed it of course. A little of my blood to fill in the missing holes and this baby is as good as new." Naruto stumbled just slightly. "Okay, I can feel more of the fox's chakra then normal but it is almost as good as new."

"Impossible…" Kabuto grinded his teeth as he stared at the blonde. "…a temporary fix like that? How could something so incredibly stupid work so well?"

Hinata smiled up at her boyfriend as she gave him another big hug. "Good thinking, Naruto-kun."

Naruto chuckled as he scratched his head. "You're the one who gave me the idea. I'm just thankful it worked."

Kabuto took in a couple deep breaths as he attempted to calm himself down. "It's no problem. I'll just do it again." He whispered quietly.

"Now then!" Naruto shouted loudly as Lee ran up to them. "Where were we?" That line caused Kabuto to cringe in anger. He knew what was coming next. "Oh yeah, I remember!"

"We were at the part where we kicked your ass and saved the village from otherwise certain doom!"


	29. Invasion Part 4

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_Invasion (Part 4)_

* * *

Hiashi gasped for breath as he glared at the one enemy in front of him. The enemy that had once been the person he was closest to in life. He alone faced his wife, Hyuuga Kana.

With his three-hundred-sixty degree vision he could see the members of the barrier squad behind him frantically working at tearing down the black walls that separated him from his daughter. He was the last defense between them and his undead wife. They had been fighting fairly evenly for a good while now but Hiashi was finding it hard to take any kind of advantage. She was throwing what seemed like an endless stream of senbon and he had to constanstly keep his rotation active to effectively bat them aside.

"You, help him!" The commander of the barrier squad yelled to one of his men.

"Yes sir!" One of the members quit working and charged at Kana with his kunai drawn.

"You fool! Don't engage her in Taijutsu!" Hiashi yelled too late.

Kana slipped into what could have at first been mistaken as a Jyuuken fighting stance. However, the key differences were she only held a single finger extended and her stance was held much more loosely. The Barrier Shinobi swung at her and she stepped ever so lightly to the side, bringing her finger forward as she did. She struck him just below the elbow and then in the shoulder.

"What?" The man's arm fell limply to his side. Without even pausing she then struck him with just one finger right in his spine. The man collapsed to the ground, completely immobile.

"What did she do?" The commander couldn't believe his subordinate had been taken down so fast.

"My wife may be a Hyuuga without the eyes but she learned to turn that into a great advantage. By learning about special pressure points on the human body, she is able to shut you down with just a simple touch. She can accurately hit those points with senbon needles so she is not limited to just Taijutsu. She is also a master of poisons that paralyze or dull the reflexes."

The commander grimaced. "That's quite the troublesome opponent."

Hiashi nodded but couldn't help but think about how much of an understatement that was. "Don't send anymore of your men to battle her. I, and I alone shall be her opponent."

"You got it!" The commander of the barrier squad agreed, not willing to lose any more men to the fierce Hyuuga woman.

"Kaiten!" He completed his rotation, knocking the senbon needles aside. "You won't be getting a step closer to these men!" He declared loudly.

"You can't hold me off forever Hiashi. You need to seal me somehow." Kana already had more needles as she said this

"How am I supposed to do that?" Hiashi asked as he furrowed his brow in frustration.

"You should leave that to me, Hyuuga-san!" Hiashi didn't bother to turn his head as a single Sunagakure Kunoichi arrived. He had seen her coming a long time ago.

The barrier members however, looked completely surprised. "What is Sunagakure doing here?"

"Under orders of Kazekage-sama we are backing up this village." The Kunoichi said as she landed next to Hiashi. "My name is Maki and I happen to be a capable sealing jutsu specialist."

Hiashi nodded, impressed. "I appreciate your help. I'll go in and create an opening for you."

"I'm sorry, Hiashi. I won't go down quite that easily." Kana said as she slowly approached her husband and her new opponent

"Kana…" Hiashi had to stop himself from reaching up and clutching at the skin around his heart. He swore silently to rip Kabuto apart the very moment he got inside that barrier. "Let's end this."

He charged right at his wife who slipped into her taijutsu stance. He swung his palm forward and Kana attacked with her fingers extended. For a few moments they battled so eloquently, an onlooker may have thought they were dancing as they dodged and weaved around one another while trying to land a battle-ending strike. Finally, Hiashi ducked under a strike and extended both hands forward, he caught his wife hard in the gut. She was knocked off her feet and landed on her backside.

"Kana…I'm sorry…" Hiashi mumbled as he pulled his hands back and then jumped next to Maki. "The rest is on you, Maki-san."

"No problem!" Maki pulled out a giant roll of cloth and slung it forward. The clothing just began to wrap around Kana.

"I truly am sorry, Hiashi." Kana whispered when just her face was left exposed. The senbon she had been throwning that lay around Hiashi's and Maki's feet burst open and small amounts of purple smoke drifted out of them.

"Damn…paralysis poison…" Both Hiashi and Maki dropped to their knees. "I should have seen that coming. You always used to store the smoke inside your senbon." Unable to move, neither of them were able to do anything as Kana freed herself.

"Damn it...we lost." Maki cursed as she fell to the ground, unconscious.

Kana then walked past her husband and approached the barrier squad. "Damnit, let's get her men!" All the remaining members of the barrier squad quit their work and charged at once. With almost no effort, Kana put them all down with what appeared to be practiced ease. Her taijutsu stance was truly something to be feared.

Hiashi alone remained conscious. The differences this time were he had already failed to protect the barrier squad and now he could barely move.

Kana slowly approached his kneeling form. Hiashi bit his lip as he cursed inside his head. "If our daughter managed to break free from the effects of paralysis then I should be able to as well…" Hiashi knew he could probably temporary overcome the effects, but what was the point? Could he beat this immortal? He wondered these things as his eyes scanned them, looking for some kind of weakness. Kana was now right in front of him and at this close a range, Hiashi finally saw something. It was small and wasn't much, but it appeared to be a kunai with a small tag with a written code inside of her body.

"That's it…that's how he makes you move…" Everything clicked inside of Hiashi's head.

Hiashi inclined his head ever so slightly. "Kana…I love you." Hiashi then raised his head to stare at her. Before she could react, Hiashi's body sprang swiftly into action. His arm struck only once but that was enough he realized as the tag within her body crumbled apart.

"W-what…" Kana collapsed to her knees, in front of her husband.

"I attacked the codes commanding your movements. While your soul is still anchored to this word, you can no longer do anything." Hiashi stated blandly, however he was surprised to see that just a moment later her body began crumbling apart.

"I don't understand." Hiashi whispered gently. "This shouldn't be happening."

Kana smiled sadly at her husband. "Just one last time, Hiashi…" She mumbled as her arm slowly began to lift itself up.

"Impossible…how can you move?" Hiashi couldn't believe it as Kana's hand slowly wrapped around the back of his head. Her purple eyes closed as she leaned her head forward and managed to give Hiashi one last dying kiss.

"Love…is strangely powerful, Hiashi." She whispered as she pulled back and tilted her head slightly. Her dark blue hair that was tied up in a bun bounced slightly from the movement. As she completely crumbled away, Hiashi saw the tears in her eyes. "…I wish I could have seen our daughters just one more time." The dust that had once been her whispered as her soul left the planet entirely.

Hiashi sat completely still, paralyzed not just by the poison now, but by his own emotions. Tears slowly began to slide down his cheeks. "How strange..." He couldn't even remembered the last time he cried. Finally, his body gave out completely and he fell to the ground on his stomach. His head that rested on the concrete was turned so he could stare at the barrier that trapped Hinata.

"My daughter…hit that bastard extra hard for me."

* * *

The wind blew strongly in the Hokage's face, forcing him to squint his eyes slightly as the wave of golden dust he and the Kazekage rode on took them ever closer to the massive tree where almost every Shinobi in the entire village battled.

"Are you ready, old man?" The Kazekage spoke with a small hint of amusement in his voice.

The Hokage somehow managed to let out a small chuckle in response to the much younger Kage's question. He felt a lot of tension leave his shoulders as he did. "Please, this old body has been aching for a battle. I'm not the type of man to let all my subordinates do the work."

"That ache may be more than waiting for a battle. I'm glad you feel that way, however. We're here." With a flick of his fingers, the giant wave of gold skid to a stop and both Kage jumped off of it and right onto the trunk of the massive tree.

"Hokage-sama!" Many Konoha Shinobi shouted in acknowledgment to the presence of their leader. Not a single one of them turned to greet him however as they continued to battle against their foes. The Hokage was impressed to note that they were beginning to pull ahead by a wide margin thanks to the efforts of all the Sunagakure Shinobi present as well. Surviving the invasion that had started out so bleak was becoming more and more possible.

"Enma, extend!" Sarutobi shouted as he swung his staff forward. Enma shot out in a straight line and impaled the Otogakure Shinobi that had been engaged in combat with Nara Shikaku.

The clan head took the hint and immediately landed next to his Hokage, his head bowed low. "Sir! What is it you request?"

The Kazekage turned and blasted a group of approaching men away with his gold dust while the older man turned to his subordinate. "I want a status report on what is going on here! What is most pressing situation and how many of the undead are left?"

"Sir! To my knowledge only two of them are left at the moment. Might Guy is engaged with his sensei, Saikyou Hiro beneath this great tree and Hatake Kakashi is currently engaged with Nidaime-sama on the other side of the trunk. The most pressing concern is the still countless Abumi Zaku who are suicide running the tree and attempting to set it ablaze."

The Hokage felt his heart wrench when Shikaku mentioned the Nidaime. The Kazkekage appeared oblivious to this as he spoke up. "We should definitely deal with a former Hokage before worrying about anyone else. Both our combined strength combined with the Copy-Ninja could surely take him down with little sacrifice."

Shikaku inclined his head. He knew what he was about to say was over his bounds but he also understood what had to be done. "Kazekage-sama is correct. At the moment, Nidaime-sama poses the greatest threat to everything Shodai-sama sacrificed himself for."

The old man nodded stiffly. "Yes, of course." He said with a dry voice. "We shall move to take him down immediately. Shikaku, as you were."

"Sir!" Shikaku got up and rejoined the battle but not without a quick glance back at his leader.

The Kazekage turned back to all the Zaku's flying around. "Annoying pests…" He said in disgust as he moved his hands exaggeratedly. The golden dust lurched upwards and enveloped them before it crushed them.

"I have a team dispatched to take care of them already." The Hokage said as he began running along the length of the trunk, making way to where the Nidaime was supposed to be fighting.

"Prudent as always." The Kazekage was after him in a flash. "I hope they take care of the job soon. The sight of those things flying around like tiny insects continues to annoy me." The gold dust took the form of a giant stream as it followed after him.

"There they are!" The Hokage shouted after a minute of scanning the tree for his old sensei. To his continued relief not only was Kakashi fighting, but so were Hayate, and Yamato.

"Mokuton no Jutsu!" Yamato shouted as he slammed his hand on the ground. The Nidaime flipped himself backwards and easily dodged the wood from the tree that attempted to swallow him up. Hayate was waiting for him when he landed.

He formed a small set of seals. "Suiton: Suiro no Jutsu!" To the surprise of the swordsman he didn't trap him in the water prison but himself. His sword hit the water but his blade stopped like it was made of the strongest earth. The Nidaime formed more seals. "Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu!" The water orb exploded outwards into four separate dragon heads. The first two one bowled Hayate over who had been standing point blank.

The others flew at Yamato and Kakashi. They each slammed their hands on the ground. A wall of mud and a wall of wood rose up to protect them from the incoming water dragons. "You wouldn't think it would be so hard to fight a single man." Kakashi was panting heavily from the constant strain of having to use this Sharingan.

"He was Hokage for a reason." Yamato however appeared to be completely refreshed as he fought. Just noticing this brought a strange feeling of ire to the Copy-Ninja. The sound of water rising from behind them caused them both to turn around. Two swirling vortexes of water were coming right at them. "How did he generate the water from behind us?"

"Nidaime-sama was known for attacking with Suiton from all kinds of directions by combining it with some kind of space-time jutsu." Kakashi explained calmly as they both rolled out of the way of the swirling water that destroyed the barriers they had just created. Kakashi then charged straight at him. "Absorb him into the tree while I keep him busy!"

"We've been trying that!" Yamato yelled back exasperated. No matter how clever a strategy they came up with it just wasn't enough to bring the former leader down. It made Yamato wonder what kind of power had been capable of doing it at all. Just then, the sight of the Hokage and Kazekage caught his eye.

"Katon: Karyudan no Jutsu!" The Hokage spit out a group of fireballs that flew at his former sensei from behind.

"Take this!" The Kazekage raised his arm and a stream of gold dust flew past him. The gold dust and fireballs combined together to form giant balls of molten gold.

The Nidaime turned his head towards the sinister attack. Meanwhile Kakashi formed a small set of seals. "Raiton: Raiju Hashiri no Jutsu!" His hand glowed with electricity as an electric dog jumped from it and charged at the Nidaime from behind.

The two powerful techniques approached the Nidaime quickly from either side yet the man calmly looked back and forth between them. The techniques collided into each other and Kakashi spun his head around. "Yamato! Now is your chance!"

"I'm on it!" The wood user shouted, already forming the last seal. He smirked victoriously but it slipped away faster than it came.

"What's wrong?" Kakashi didn't like that look.

"He's not there…" Yamato's voice was laced with his own disbelief.

"What?" Kakashi spun back around and saw the smoke clear to reveal a puddle of water where the Nidaime had been. "Damn, a water clone."

The Hokage wasn't at all surprised by his sensei's quick escape. Instead he seemed to have been expecting at as evident when he turned around to face the man that was now standing behind him. "It's been a long time…Sensei."

"Saru…I see you are still Hokage." Tobirama had the smallest of smiles on his face as he looked at his student.

"Forced back into from retirement I'm afraid." The old man gave a strained grin back as he settled into a fighting stance.

"I also see you have allied yourself with Sunagakure, I am glad relations are improving." Tobirama also settled into a fighting stance.

"You are awfully curious for a dead man." The Kazekage mumbled as he raised his hand up and a katana made of gold formed there.

Before any of them made another movement, Hayate appeared from right below, his sword swinging upwards. "What?" The Nidaime had no chance to react as his hands were sliced clean off from his body.

"Now is your chance!" Hayate back flipped over both Kage as they ran forward, Sarutobi with his staff and the Kazekage with his golden sword.

"Stop! That one's a clone too!" Kakashi yelled too late as their attack struck it, causing it to explode and ensnare them both in a prison of water.

"As if something like this could hold me." The Kazekage stabbed his sword forward and they were both freed instantly. "Now where did he really go?"

"Over there!" Hayate shouted as he pointed towards the sky about a hundred yards deeper into the village from where they were. The Nidaime hung at the arc of his jump, seemly suspended in the air with his hands in a seal.

"What's he doing?" Yamato had a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach as he felt the surge of chakra being summoned from Tobirama's body. His bad feeling was right on the spot as one by one, dozen's of spinning disks of water began to form.

"There's no way he thinks those will all hit us does he?" The Kazekage folded his arms, unimpressed. When the attacks finally fired off he realized how wrong he had been. The dozens of water vortexes arced downwards and aimed right for…the roots of the giant tree. They smashed into them, quickly obliterating them as they went.

Everyone could only wait to see what would happen. After just a couple antagonizing seconds, the sound of creaking reached their ears. The tree slowly but ever so surely began to tip towards the village. The green orbs that continued to hang around the village began flickering, as if the falling of the tree was extinguishing them.

The Hokage raised his voice to a boom that could be heard by everyone. "Shinobi of Konoha! Keep this tree standing no matter what! If it falls it will flatten close to half the village!" As he said this he immediately moved into action and began to sprint around to the other side. "Kazekage-dono!" He shouted.

"I know!" The young Kage immediately dropped towards the ground. The second he landed his hands were up in the air. The huge wave of golden dust he and the Hokage had rode in on rose up and immediately began to rise around the tree in support. A dozen Zaku began flying at him, a barrage of kunai shooting form their stomachs. The gold dust formed around him in a dome that protected him from the attacks.

Yamato and the Hokage landed down on the other side of the tree just moments after this happened. It wasn't just them. At least another hundred Konoha Shinobi and Sunagakure Shinobi were there as well. All of them whirled long wires that wrapped around the tree and they began heaving with all their might in an attempt to stop it from falling.

"Enma! Extend!" Sarutobi shouted as Enma shot forward and then bent and wrapped himself around the giant tree as well.

"Mokuton no Jutsu!" Yamato slammed his palms into the ground and more roots sprouted forth from it and connected themselves to the tree in an attempt to keep it from leaning any farther.

A giant Choza rammed into the tree from the other side and pushed at it with all his might.

Everyone who had latched onto the tree with wires slowly began to skid forward slightly as the overwhelming weight of the tree continued to lean forward anyways. Suddenly, a couple of them fell backwards as kunai struck them in the heads. Sarutobi looked up to see the Otogakure Shinobi were now targeting all the Shinobi trying to hold the tree up. A group of kunai were suddenly flying straight at his head.

"We'll protect you!" Kakashi and Hayate appeared in front of the Hokage and deflected the kunai. They both immediately began to run forward with a group of other Shinobi that were charging to defend those holding the tree up.

"Kakashi! Above!" The Copy-Ninja turned his head upwards at the Hokage's shout. To his horror, he saw the Nidaime hanging above everyone who was holding the tree up. He was running through the seal to form more vortexes of water.

"No you don't!" Kakashi jumped skywards and formed a blade of lightning in his hand. "Raikiri!" The Nidaime wasn't able to dodge in the air and Kakashi's attack sliced through his hands and into his stomach.

"Impressive, Sharingan Warriror." The Nidaime kicked off of Kakashi and landed on the ground, his hands and the hole repairing themselves already. "I wonder if you can win by yourself though. There was five of you before and you still had trouble."

"I'll figure something out." Kakashi said calmly as he swung his arm to the side and another blade of lightning formed in his hand. Just as he charged forward he caught sight of his students. "What are they doing here?"

Tenten gave a loud shout as she swung her own chain that slowly began to wrap its way around the trunk of the tree. It took a full thirty seconds due to the size of the trunk before her chain tightened. "I got it!" She shouted triumphantly and heaved at the tree that was getting more and more crooked. Not even a second later and she was lifted off her feet as the tree picked her up. "I don't got it! I don't got it!"

"Damn!" Sasuke sighed exaggeratedly as he jumped forward and grabbed onto her ankles. To his displeasure he was also lifted off the ground.

"Sasuke-kun!"

"Sasuke!" Kiba grabbed onto one leg at the calf and Sakura the other. Unsurprisingly they were both lifted into the air too.

"Oh come on!" Sasuke yelled in annoyance.

"I got you guys!" An enlarged Choji easily wrapped one hand each against Kiba and Sakura. Finally, with the sound of a loud creak, enough Shinobi had gathered that the tree stopped falling. The group of Genin could see the golden dust, growing roots, giant staff, and just about everything else present that was contributing towards holding up the giant tree of Konoha.

"Let go of me! Let go!" Tenten screamed in agony as Sasuke held onto her ankles with a death grip.

"Let go?" Sakura and Kiba asked simultaneously.

"If you assholes let go I'll kill you!" Sasuke responded loudly.

"Which is it?" Choji asked in confusion.

"Let go!"

"Don't let go!"

"Uchiha!" Sasuke sighed. He knew that voice. A group of Zakus were flying straight at the chain of Genin that held onto the tree and unfortunately there was nothing they could do to fight them.

Before the Zakus got even a few feet closer however they all split apart as Kakashi landed nimbly in front of them. "What the hell do you guys think you are doing?" He yelled at them.

"Helping?" They all asked at once.

"I can't fight a former Hokage and protect you guys from all the Zaku at the same time." He said in annoyance as the Nidaime landed in front of him and he was forced to engage him in taijutsu. As he did, more Zaku began to fly at the Genin. Before they got too much closer they all lost control and crashed onto the ground. A moment later and a group of bugs began to crawl out from out of the Zaku.

"Leave defending them to me, Kakashi-san. Shino would be upset if I let any harm befall his teammates." Aburame Gen said as he took up a defensive position, his bugs rising out from his body.

"Thanks, I owe you one." Kakashi nodded as he ran back towards the former Hokage.

"Now the task falls to you to defeat me." Tobirama walked forward slowly. "That tree is still in danger of falling and if you don't hurry, I may be the one to bring it down."

Kakashi grinned behind his mask. "Don't worry. I won't let that happen."

"Prove it, Sharingan Warrior." Tobirama raised his hands to form more seals but Kakashi was there in an instant.

"I will." He shouted as he separated the man's hands. He then stepped in lightly and drilled his elbow into the Nidaime's gut.

Tobirama stumbled back slightly before settling into a taijutsu stance. Kakashi cart wheeled to him and brought both feet down in a powerful kick that the former Hokage blocked with his forearms. He pushed Kakashi back lightly and stepped in swinging his foot upwards.

Kakashi, still standing on his hands pushed off the ground and into the air, well above the kick. He tucked into a ball and spun incredibly fast before breaking form and swinging down another kick.

The Nidaime grabbed this kick, spun around and flung him with all his might. Kakashi sailed through the air but with a simple flip landed on his feet. When he raised his eyes up he was surprised to see a vortex of water already coming right at him.

Tobirama frowned deeply as Kakashi was seemly caught in his attack. His body automatically turned to the right where just twenty yards away the Shinobi of Konoha were still struggling to hold the tree up.

"Don't even think about it!" Tobirama looked straight down only for Kakashi's foot to connect with his chin. He was sent scaling into the air. Kakashi flipped into the air and appeared right above him, his elbow drilling into the Nidaime's solar plexus, slamming him into the ground, creating a small crater.

Kakashi landed just outside of the crater, panting even more heavily than before. It was clear that he hadn't dodged the last attack entirely as his Chunin Vest had vanished completely and his black body suit was littered with big gaping holes.

"You are at your limit." Tobirama lifted himself out of the crater, unharmed. "You are no longer using ninjutsu because you need one that can bind me, yet you don't seem to have one. So you're saving your chakra, waiting for a move that will beat me."

Kakashi wiped the sweat from his face as he nodded ever so slightly. "I just need to stall you until they get that tree up. Someone will come that can bind you for good."

"Not good enough." Kakashi's eyes widened as he realized the Nidaime was suddenly behind him. The dead man drilled his elbow into Kakashi's back and slammed him into the ground full force. "You have blown your opportunity to save this village. I'm sorry." The Nidaime turned and began walking towards those holding the tree up.

Kakashi place his elbows on the ground and attempted to heft himself up but collapsed back down. "Damn it…this body has had it." Kakashi settled for rolling over onto his back so he could at least watch the Nidaime's retreating form. As he did he watched two Shinobi jump in front of the man, attempting to stop him from making it to those who were holding the tree up.

One water jutsu later and they both fell to the ground dead. The Nidaime raised his hands and began forming more seals. One swirling disk of water opened up next to him. Then another. Soon they began to pop up all around him as he prepared to launch them at all of the Shinobi.

"No!" Kakashi again tried to get back up but collapsed to the ground. "There's got be something I can do…something!" He grit his teeth as he stared at the Nidaime with all his might.

Suddenly, something happened. Kakashi wasn't sure what, but he felt his Sharingan eye change. His vision became more clear for just a second. Then it happened, right in the middle of the Nidaime's back, a rift opened and the area around began to swirl as it got sucked in.

The Nidaime turned around in surprise. He then smiled as the rift got bigger and began to pull his now twisting body in. "Well done…Sharingan Warrior." Those were the last words he said before he got sucked in completely. The water disks he had been forming collapsed completely when the user disappeared.

"What…did I just do?" Kakashi suddenly shut his Sharingan eye as it began burning painfully. He let out a yell of pain.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Tenten and Sasuke yelled. They could hardly do anything as they were both still connected to the tree.

"I'm alright..." Kakashi moaned as he slowly began to heft his body up. Another group of Zaku were flying towards him. "Crap...I can't dodge!"

Suddenly, the Zaku began to veer out of control and they crashed into one another.

"I've got your back, Kakashi." Kurenai said as she crouched down next to him. Kakashi nodded his thanks as she hefted him up.

He was just glad he had done it, he had actually beaten a Hokage in battle.


	30. Invasion Part 5

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_Invasion (Part 5)_

* * *

"Face it, we're lost." Temari sighed as she stumbled through the low brush of the forest.

"We're not lost." Dosu, Haku, and Zabuza all said together. They all stopped and looked at each other at the same time.

Finally, Dosu threw his hands up in the air. "Okay, we're lost!" He admitted before pointing dramatically at Zabuza. "But only because he suggested we take a shortcut! We would have been fine if you guys would have just followed me quietly."

Zabuza huffed as he pointed his thumb at Haku. "This brat is the one who made us turn back around. If we would have followed my path a little longer we would have been there. But noooooo…the short-cut wasn't short enough for him."

Haku opened his mouth to protest but Temari suddenly made a shushing sound. They all immediately grew quiet and crept over to the brush she was using as cover. "We're here…" She whispered. Just on the other side of the brush was a huge clearing that had a dozen or so Otogakure Shinobi pacing around lazily. On the other side of the clearing was the entrance to a cave.

"Any other ways in?" Haku asked hopefully as he turned to Dosu.

The boy's brown hair bounced lightly as he shook his head. "This is the only entrance but that's okay. These men are the only ones that were left behind at the base. Once inside there are all kinds of traps though, but I'll be able to get us around those."

"The same way you got us here?" Temari asked sarcastically.

"If we don't take any more _shortcuts _it will work out just fine." He glared at Zabuza as he talked.

"Fine, if you don't want to listen to me, just go in without me." Zabuza said as he formed a set of seals. A moment later and a thick mist settled over the clearing in front of them. They immediately heard shouts of panic from within the mist.

"What?" Dosu and Temari asked simultaneously.

"Just let it go." Haku waved it off. "He wants the chance to fight someone for once." As he said that he slipped past the brush they were hiding behind and into the mist. Slowly and hesitantly, Dosu and Temari followed him. They were surprised by how expertly he guided them through the mist and even more surprised that he got them to the entrance of the cave without running them into a single guard.

"Is Zabuza…-sensei going to be okay fighting all of them by himself?" Dosu asked as he took the lead and led them into the cave.

Suddenly a scream from one of the man caused them all to turn around. "I-It's a demon! Save me!" The next noise the man make was the sound of him gurgling on his own blood.

"Oh yeah, he'll be fine." Haku smiled as the sound of the men dying brought back memories of him and Zabuza when they were missing-nin.

"Right…let's get moving. We need to make a detour." Dosu led them deeper into the cave.

"Not another shortcut I hope?" Temari didn't like the sound of a detour.

"No, I just need to go to my room to retrieve something."

Outside in the mist Zabuza had just sliced the jugular of the first man and stood over his bleeding body. The sound of a group of footsteps approaching made him smile even bigger behind his wrapped face as he slipped invisibly into the mist.

Three men ran to corpse of the man that had been their ally. "Shit…what happened to him?" The first one to arrive asked as he bent down and checked the man's throat where it looked like he had been sliced by something jagged.

The sound of something thumping next to him startled him so badly he almost whirled a kunai. He saw a large round object laying just to his left in the mist. "You dropped this…" He said as he reached towards it. He was surprised by how wet it felt when he grabbed onto it. With a terrible feeling he slowly grabbed the object and lifted it up. It was the head of one of the men standing behind him.

"Oh my God!" He shouted as he dropped the head. The owner of it finally fell to the ground with another loud thud. "You! Why didn't you notice?" He turned to see the other man behind him had vanished entirely. He hadn't even heard his footsteps leave the area. "Just what is going on?" He got to his feet and quickly began running through the mist.

The thing he saw next caused him to rip his mask off a hurl on the spot. Five more of his men lay completely dismembered on the spot. Their heads, legs, arms, and torsos lay inside a messy pile that was dripping with blood.

"Taicho!" Two more of his men ran up to him and out of the thick mist. "It's terrible! Everyone…everyone else is dead!"

"Everyone?" The man who had just hurled rose to his feet as he stared at his remaining two subordinates. "We're Jonin for crying out loud! How many of them are there that we are being wiped out like this?"

"I don't know sir, but I'm glad I found you. We have to stick together." The other man nodded in agreement to the first man.

It was this that caused the leader of the group to narrow his eyes. "Wait a second…how did you know where I was? We can't see in this mist at all and yet you ran right up to me."

"Uh…well, I heard you barfing, sir." The man took a step back nervously. Before he could move another step the leader of the group stepped forward and stabbed into his heart with a kunai. The man poofed into smoke and Zabuza was revealed. "Figured you out…" The man twisted the kunai before pulling it out.

Zabuza slipped down to his knees and gazed up at the man who had stabbed him. He then began chuckling as his body began to melt apart. "What?" Zabuza fell apart into water just as the sound of flesh being splattered reached his ears. He turned to see the real Zabuza standing behind his subordinate that had just been split in half, starting from his head and going down.

"Y-you…demon…" The leader fell to his knees as he stared at Zabuza's bloody blade.

"Yes…" Zabuza almost purred as he ripped the bandages around his face off and gave a truly horrific smile. "…remind me of what it means to be feared as The Demon of the Bloody Mist!" He stepped forward and rammed his sword right through the middle of the man's chest. Zabuza hefted the man's corpse up with his sword before he flung it deep into the mist with a simple flick.

"How boring…I guess I'll go lend the others my aide after all." Zabuza took a couple steps forward but the sound of another set of steps caused him to stop. From right in front of him, another person slowly materialized. Zabuza wordlessly stepped into the mist before he could be seen.

A boy with long white hair tied behind his back slowly stepped around the misty area. He couldn't see any enemy but he smelled a lot of blood.

The sound of a sword swinging from behind reached his ears. Kimimaro made no move to get out of the way. Instead, four bones shot from his body and completely stopped a giant sword from lopping his head off.

"…" Zabuza wordlessly became visible now, his eyes widened in shock at the unexpected defense of his opponent.

"A former shinobi of Kirigakure. This mist seems nostalgic to me, somehow." As Kimimaro spoke, another bone slowly rose out from his shoulder. He grabbed a hold of the bone and pulled it out, revealing it to be a short blade. When he spun around to strike, Zabuza was already gone.

"That was…unexpected." His voice rang out from inside the fog. "A unique Kekkei Genkai perhaps? What clan did you belong to?"

"Kaguya." Kimimaro said in monotone, as he slowly searched the fog.

"Oh, really? I thought my old village had wiped you all out. Maybe it's fate that we met here in this field." Zabuza's sword appeared again in a straight thrust. Kimimaro's ribcage shot forward and again caught the sword. This time though, when Zabuza pulled his sword back, he found it was trapped.

"Teshi Sendan." Kimimaro held his hand out forward and the tips of his fingers fired off into the mist. The sound of splashing water filled the air and Kimimaro realized he had attacked a water clone. Silence again settled inside the thick mist.

"I'm curious." Kimimaro called out. "Why are you here fighting me? What is your purpose?"

"Purpose? What do you mean?"

"In truth, I hate fighting. However, I must avenge Orochimaru-sama. As his tool, I lived only for his sake. Now that purpose is gone." Kimimaro stared straight out into the mist.

Zabuza said nothing from his spot in the mist. Instead he started laughing. "You remind me of someone close to me. At least, you're exactly like he used to be." Haku appeared vividly inside Zabuza's mind. "I used to fight only for myself. I lived only for myself. Now, I fight because I have something even I want to protect. I won't let you destroy Konoha."

"I see…this will be a good fight then." Kimimaro slowly began walking. With each step his pace picked up a little and soon he was in an all out sprint.

"Where do you think you're going?" Zabuza shouted as he appeared right beside him, sword swinging.

"You can't cut me!" Kimimaro shouted, his bones extending from his arm and ribs, deflecting the sword. As this happened he stopped hard and swung his own small bone blade forward.

Zabuza turned his sword sideways and deflected Kimimaro's strike. Pushing back, he swung his sword. Multiple loud clangs rang through the clearing as they begin a close proximity sword battle. "You're fairly skilled for being so young." Zabuza complimented.

Kimimaro said nothing as he deflected yet another strike and made a series of quick jabs. Zabuza took a couple of steps backward, leaning slightly to avoid each strike.

"Unfortunately for you, I am a master swordsmen, entrusted with one of the seven most powerful blades ever created!" Zabuza quit his back track and swung his sword low, digging it through the earth. As it made an upward arc, it threatened to chop Kimimaro in half.

"You should know by now that you can't cut me!" Kimimaro blocked the strike with his bone sword. "I can make my blades stronger than steel!"

"You're more naïve then I thought if you think I'm trying to cut you!" As Zabuza shouted, Kimimaro was lifted off the ground by the force of his swing. He now was suspended five feet in the air.

"What?" Kimimaro asked in shock.

"You may be able to block my strikes but I wonder how well your body will handle being crushed!" Zabuza stopped his upward swing and completely reversed the swing of his blade. When it came back around it slammed Kimimaro from above and threw him forcefully into the ground, creating a deep crater in the process.

Bones had sprouted out all over the boy's body just in time to absorb some of the shock, however the blow had been too great and Kimimaro spit blood as his body made contact with the ground.

"You react quickly but your bones won't be enough to save you now!" Zabuza shouted as he swung his sword downwards again. Kimimaro had no chance to move and his body dug a little deeper into the ground. Zabuza repeated the process again.

"D-damn…you." Kimimaro said between clenched teeth, blood flowing freely from his mouth. A small mark on his chest begin to glow orange and lines quickly spread over his whole body. The lines quickly grew bigger and soon his whole body was glowing orange.

"I don't know what you're doing but it won't work!" The ex-mist ninja shouted as he swung again. To his surprise, he felt his legs swept out from underneath, knocking him flat on his back. "The hell?" He looked up only to be surprised to see that Kimimaro had a tail now.

The bone-user stood up, his skin now a dark gray color, and six large bones protruding from his back. "From here on out, I'll be fighting seriously. I hope you're prepared."

"You thinking changing your form makes you any stronger?" Zabuza swung his sword with all his might.

"I know it does." Kimimaro crossed his arms in front of himself. Zabuza's sword was stopped completely. The bone-user pushed back, knocking Zabuza off balance.

"Damn!" Zabuza stumbled slightly off his feet. By the time he regained his balance, Kimimaro was on him.

"Take this!" Kimimaro rammed into him, using the bones on his spikes as spears. Zabuza was barely able to block the bones with his sword in time. He was sent flying backwards where he landed painfully on his back.

The ex-kiri ninja found himself stumbling to his feet once again. When he turned his attention back to his opponent, he was surprised to see him pulling out what appeared to be his spinal cord. "What a freaky kid…" Zabuza hefted his sword up with just one hand.

"Tessenka no Mai: Tsuru!" Kimimaro pulled his spinal cord completely out. At first it appeared to be a long sword, but when he swung it, the bone quickly took the form of a whip.

Zabuza blocked the first strike with ease. He then charged forward and swung his massive blade. Kimimaro tilted his body slightly and Zabuza's sword struck one of his back bones.

"You should have given up trying to cut me down by now! I keep telling you it won't work!" Kimimaro swung his whip again and Zabuza jumped high in the air to avoid it.

"We'll see about that! As long as my blade is in tact, I'll find a way to split you wide open!" As Zabuza began to fall, he pointed his blade straight down.

"Then I'll just have to shatter your blade." Kimimaro whispered as he rolled out of the way of Zabuza's descent.

The swordsman slammed into the ground, his sword sinking up to the handle. "Where's that confidence in your defense now?" Zabuza pulled his sword from the ground with little effort. "You shouldn't have needed to dodge that strike with your body."

"Tessenka no Mai: Hana!" Kimimaro ignored the swordsman as bones in his arm began to form a giant spear. "This bone is the strongest my body can possibly produce. There will be no breaking this for you." Kimimaro dropped his whip and charged at the ex-mist ninja.

"We'll see about that!" Zabuza matched his charge. As the two neared each other they both pulled their weapons back and then lashed forward. The weapons connected…and Zabuza's sword was completely shattered. "Wha…" Zabuza didn't get to say any more as Kimimaro's spear continued right on into his shoulder.

"I had told you all along it was pointless." Kimimaro leaned forward and attempted to spear Zabuza with his back spikes again.

"Like hell it was!" Zabuza dropped his broken sword and grabbed a hold of the spear. He then pushed himself off and stumbled back a couple feet.

"Winning now is impossible for you. Without your sword you have no chance." Kimimaro straightened himself out and brought his spear up. "Not that you had a chance to begin with. Since you're Shinobi who's only skill is the sword, my victory was guaranteed." Zabuza chuckled lightly. "Something funny?" Kimimaro stared oddly at his opponent.

"Yeah. You think you have this fight all sown up simply because my blade is broken. I think that's hilarious." Kimimaro frowned slightly at Zabuza's words. "Listen kid, I never said my only strength was swordsmanship. That's just your misunderstanding."

"Then why persist with it to such an extent? I told you it wouldn't work!" Kimimaro took a small step forward.

"I simply enjoy the feeling of getting to lop the head off of my opponent. Staying in such a peaceful village can be relaxing, but it does make it hard to keep up with my old hobby." Zabuza said while laughing.

Kimimaro charged forward again. "I've wounded you. This fight is over!" To his surprise, Zabuza disappeared into the mist they had been fighting in.

"You think this small scratch is enough to offset this battle? I'm sorry to tell you kid, but I'm a Jonin. The only reason you were able to see me this whole time was because I _allowed_ you see me." Zabuza's voice rang from several places at once. "Now I'm going to end this battle."

"How do you intend to do that?" Kimimaro stared around the mist once again.

"Tora. Ushi. Saru." Zabuza began chanting hand seals quietly into the mist. "U. Hitsuji. I. Ushi. Uma." Kimimaro quickly began running through the mist, trying to pinpoint the sound. He had to stop him from completing the jutsu. "Saru. Tora. Inu. Tora. Mi. Tora. Ushi. Saru. U." Zabuza's form became visible in the mist, his hands moving quickly as he formed seals.

"I got you!" Kimimaro brought his spear up and charged at him.

Tori!" Zabuza completed the last seal. "Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu!" A ring of water formed in front of Zabuza. The water then shot forward in a great wave and completely engulfed Kimimaro.

At first Kimimaro was lifted off of his feet, but by extending his bones to the ground, he was able to anchor himself. With great horror, the bone-user realized Zabuza was attempting to drown him. This can't happen. I won't die in such a pathetic way. I have to keep living for Orochimaru-sama! With these thoughts constantly repeating in his mind, the bone user took a small step forward.

Zabuza's eyes widened in surprise. He could feel his opponent moving slowly but surely through his jutsu. "What stubborn will…" A bead of sweat rolled down the swordsman's forehead. Using such a powerful water jutsu took a lot of chakra even with a water source. Doing so without one was incredibly taxing on him. Worse yet, if his opponent somehow managed to break free, Zabuza wouldn't have much hope of winning.

To further his fear, he saw the tip of the boys spear break through his end of the vortex. Next, he saw the boy's face slowly start to break through. "Impossible…" Zabuza stood completely still in front of his opponent. He didn't dare move for fear of disrupting his jutsu.

"Y-you…I won't let you…" Kimimaro spoke between coughs of water. Only a small part of his body was out of the water. Slowly, he pulled his spear a little more forward. Inching it forward, the tip poked Zabuza's skin, right where his heart was. "D-die…for Orochimaru-sama…I'll kill you!" Blood slowly began to trickle from the small hole Kimimaro was creating in Zabuza's flesh.

Zabuza couldn't help it. He looked at this boy and again he saw Haku. Shaking his head free of the thought Zabuza closed his eyes. "I'm sorry, I'll free you from this miserable existence of living solely for the sake of another. It's too bad you can't be saved like Haku. Maybe if you had met that team, things would've been different."

Having finished speaking, Zabuza poured even more chakra into his jutsu. Kimimaro was ripped backwards, his anchors no longer strong enough to support him. Zabuza pumped even more chakra to it, he could feel Kimimaro struggling against it pointlessly for just a few more minutes. Soon, his movement stopped and his body was slammed up against a tree.

Slowly, Zabuza began to let up on the jutsu. He watched sadly as Kimimaro's lifeless body fell from his place on the tree and hit the ground. He cautiously approached the body. When he was right next to it, he leaned down and felt for a pulse. It was gone. "I'm sorry." The ex-kiri ninja said quietly to himself before hefting his blade up.

He held it under his still openly bleeding wound and watched it begin to repair itself. Just then he heard the sound of pounding footsteps.

"There was an incredible surge of chakra this way!" Zabuza smiled evilly as he disappeared back into the mist. Reinforcements were coming which meant he was still going to have a good time.

* * *

Dosu admired the new sound manipulator he had just put on with a sense of security.

Noticing this, Temari snorted. "I can't believe you made us go all that way just to replace your broken toy."

Dosu looked up at her indignantly but Haku responded before he could. "It is not so much different from you and your fan, Temari-san. You wouldn't want to enter enemy territory without it, right?"

Temari glared at Haku before making a grunt that probably meant she conceded the point. The ice-user smiled. "I thought you'd understand."

Dosu nodded his thanks at Haku who merely smiled back at him. They were slowly but surely creeping through the dank tunnels that were light only by small lanterns that hung off the walls. Dosu led the way through the traps, with Temari directly behind him, and Haku behind her.

"One more turn and we should be there." Dosu whispered as he edged his way around the corner after making sure the coast was clear.

"You sure this is going to be the right place?" Temari held onto her fan tightly; ready to swing it at the first notice of an enemy.

"Positive." Dosu responded instantly. "There was a special area in the base that I wasn't allowed in. He has to be there."

"Why not let you help?" Haku rubbed his chin as he thought about it.

"He probably didn't want me to know anything about it. I was supposed to die in the tournament after all. As someone expendable, the less I knew the better." Dosu peaked his head around the last corner and his eyes widened in surprise. "Everyone get back!" He shouted as he shoved both of them backwards before diving that way himself.

"Wha-?" Temari and Haku fell to ground on their butts just as a wave of sand flew over them in what would have been a fatal sweep. Dosu who had landed on his stomach rolled over and stood back up in front of his teammates.

"Kabuto you bastard…you would place a guard that would be almost impossible to get through." As Dosu said this, the sound of approaching footsteps reached their ears. Each step got louder and louder until finally, a small boy with red hair turned the corner and stood in their path.

"G-Gaara…" Temari felt her heart wrench in both pain and in fear as she stared at her younger brother. Her…dead younger brother.

"I'm afraid I can't let any of you go a step further." Gaara slowly walked forward and sand burst from his still present gourd that completely sealed off the path behind him. "Whoever revived me won't allow it."

Haku got up and stared at the small redhead. "Gaara-san. Don't make this difficult. I am a friend of Naruto-san's and as an extension I would like to be a friend of yours. Please let us through."

"A friend of Naruto's, huh?" Gaara smiled sadly. "I'm afraid even if that is the case, the user has printed specific instructions to attack and kill anyone that tries to get through. As long as you don't try anything, I won't attack. So leave and go back to Naruto."

Haku shook his head. "I can't do that, Naruto-san is in danger and we need to get past here to save him."

Gaara's eyes widened ever so slightly. A moment later and his small smile grew bitter. "Then I hope you know a way to get past me, if you are truly a friend of Naruto's, then you should be able to do it."

"For Naruto-san, we'll definitely do it." Haku raised one hand up and began to form seals. Before he got even to the second one Gaara's sand shot forward and snatched him. "…What speed!" Haku shouted in surprise.

Temari gave a shout of exertion as she swung her still folded fan down, shattering the sand and freeing Haku. Dosu charged straight at Gaara as this was happening. "Take this!" He swung his arm with the sound manipulator forward.

"You'll have to do better than that." The sand completely covered Gaara in a dome that protected him from even the sound waves.

"Quick, Haku, we need a plan." Temari unfolded her fan and turned to her younger teammate.

"If I can just complete my mirrors I can get onto the other side." Haku shook himself free of any sand that was still on him. "Before he completely blocked it off I created a mirror on the other end. I just need to make one more to get through." He brought his one hand up but the sand at his feet shot up and bound his fingers.

"Can you take anyone with you?" Temari asked as she kicked at the sand freeing Haku's fingers, allowing him to form his last mirror. Dosu meanwhile, had fallen into a pattern of attacking and rolling away from the sand that struck back.

"Yeah, I can pull you both through." Haku stepped all the way back into his mirror and held his hand out for her.

Temari shook her head. "We need someone to stay behind or he'll give chase. His code sounded really simple so as long as one of us stays back he won't move."

"So then-"

"I'll stay." Temari cut him off. "Dosu is the one that knows that most about this place and you need to be the one to use your mirrors, obviously. So leave it to me."

Haku nodded slowly. "Thank you, I know this must be hard for you." He turned his gaze towards his other teammate. "Dosu!"

"Yeah, I heard!" Dosu rolled out of the way of another wave of sand and then immediately charged back towards them. The sand was quickly after him.

"No you don't!" Temari waved her fan and the sand was buffeted backwards by the strong gust of wind. Dosu jumped forward and stuck his hand out. Haku grabbed a hold of it and pulled him in with one tug. A moment later and they both vanished and the ice mirror shattered.

"Well then, it looks like it's just you and me, Gaara." Temari said as she readied her fan for the next attack.

"You…I'm surprised you would volunteer to stay behind and fight me." Gaara's protective dome lowered and his body was slowly revealed. He smiled at the sight he saw. Temari was putting on a brave face but her entire body was trembling. "You're still terrified of me."

Temari shook her head in protest. "That's not it! It's not because I'm scared!"

"Liar. You and that oaf of a brother have always been afraid of me." Gaara's sand sprang into action and flew straight at Temari.

"That was true in the past." Temari admitted as she swung her fan forward. Most of the sand was buffeted to the side but several strands kept coming for her, forcing her to roll to the side. "That's changed now though Gaara! I'm truly sorry for the way we treated you."

"Empty words." Gaara spat as more sand sprang forward from his gourd and attacked the blonde. "The only one that ever cared was Naruto. He tried his hardest to save me even at the expense of his own life. What have you ever done for me?"

"I…I…" Temari opened and shut her mouth but she wasn't able to say anything. She let herself get lost in her memories for just a moment but it was enough for Gaara's sand to smash into her, knocking her over and sending her fan free from her grip. She smashed into the wall of the cave with a loud crack and slowly slid to the ground. The sand that had assaulted her retreated back into the gourd and on Gaara's back.

"That's what I thought. You never cared." Gaara slowly turned towards the wall of sand he had erected behind him.

"W-wait…" Temari gasped as she leaned forward so she was on her hands and knees. The back of her head bled freely and dripped its way around to her cheeks and rolled off her chin. "…I'm not done yet."

"You still intend to try to break through?" Gaara turned back and his sand slowly began to rise from his gourd.

Temari shook her head. "I won't try to get past, I promise. I just want to talk." She shakily got to her feet and began to stumble towards her younger brother.

"What are you doing?" Gaara's sand continued to come out from his gourd. It reached around him and formed a giant defensive claw.

"I told you, I just want to talk. I want you to know something Gaara." Blood trickled down and covered Temari's right eye as she continued to limp her way towards her brother.

"S-stay away!" Gaara yelled as she got just within a couple feet. "I'll crush you!"

"No, you won't…" Temari lunged the rest of the way forward and Gaara's sand instantly shot down, ready to crush her. Just mere centimeters away from doing so and the sand grinded to a halt.

Temari hadn't attacked him, but rather…hugged him. Her arms wrapped around his back, squeezing him tightly. Gaara's chin just rested on her shoulder. "…I don't understand." The feelings inside Gaara suddenly became all jumbled and he lost control of his sand so it collapsed to the ground around them.

"Gaara…I'm so sorry for the way I treated you." Temari felt tears leak from her eyes as she talked to him. They dripped down her face and mixed in with her blood. "I was truly afraid of you. I thought you would kill me at any moment."

"W-what are you saying…" Gaara asked meekly as he tried pushing himself away from the hug. He clearly lacked the resolve to do so, however as he only gave a small slight nudges before giving up. He couldn't explain it, but he felt so warm.

"I'm saying the things I never thought I would get to say to you when you died. You know what I did when I found out you died Gaara?" Temari pulled her face back and loosened her grip slightly so she could look at his face.

Gaara shook his head. "Stop it."

"I cried. I cried so hard that I was forced to realize something deep inside of me that I had repressed all this time." Gaara continued to shake his head; tears slowly began to leak from his eyes now too. "Gaara, I loved you. You were my little brother and I loved you."

"Please, just let go of me!" Gaara tried to pull away harder but Temari pulled him in tightly again.

"No!" She said feverishly. "I won't let you go this time. Do you remember when we were little kids? Before we really understood what the village thought of you?" Gaara couldn't move a muscle now as his tears spilled over her shoulder.

"We used to play ball together, you, me, and Kankuro. Do you remember what you used to call me?" She whispered these words ever so gently. Gaara nodded. "Then, say it."

"O…" That was the only bit Gaara was able to choke out before his mouth snapped shut.

"Say it."

"Onee-chan." Gaara choked out between sobs as he wrapped his arms around her too. He buried his face in her shoulder.

"That's right. I'm your Onee-chan." Temari and Gaara both sunk to their knees as they held each other. "I've always been your Onee-chan."

Gaara slowly leaned his head back and looked at her. Temari smiled lightly back him, an effect ruined by her face covered in blood and tears. She brought her hand up and slowly touched Gaara's cheek. To her surprise, the spot she touched began to crumble.

"Gaara, you had you sand armor on?" He shook his head slowly.

"No…I'm disappearing." He said quietly.

"What?" Temari then noticed Gaara's grip behind her get weaker as his hands and arms began to dissolve into dust. "No! Gaara, you can't do this now! I just got you back! I just finally got my little brother back!"

"Onee-chan, I'm dead." Gaara told her in a hushed voice. "Yet even though I'm dead you've reminded me what it was like to truly be alive again. To be loved by someone. Thank you…tell that to Naruto too. I thank him too." His skin began deteriorating faster and Temari felt her grip began to sink into Gaara's back as that too crumbled apart.

"No, Gaara! You can't go! I won't let you go!" Temari shouted as she began picking up the dirt that had once been his body. She tried placing back on his fast as she good but it wasn't working.

"Onee-chan. I'm so sorry." Gaara whispered before he crumbled apart completely, leaving Temari with only dirt that slowly trickled through her fingers.

"Gaara…" She choked out as she watched the pile in her hands grow smaller and smaller. She slowly brought it up to her face as she cried into it.

"Gaara!"

* * *

"This is it." Dosu and Haku stood directly in front of two steel doors that sat at the end of the cave. Without any hesitation, they each placed their hands around a big ring attached to the door and pulled. They both swung up easily and the contents of the room were exposed. To both of their surprise, a giant underground pond lay in front of them. Lining the wall on the other side were thousands of monitors that all showed different parts of Konoha. In the middle of the pond was a small island with a giant tube filled with some kind of green liquid.

"Those screens must each be the view of each of the Zakus…" Haku whispered in awe. There were probably two thousand of them and just barely half of them had been blacked out.

"More so then the monitor, what about that tube? What do you think is in there?" Dosu asked as he took a step onto the water. Without warning he was suddenly blasted backwards as the water violently shot skywards and ejected him from the surface. "What the hell?" Dosu asked as he was sent spinning through the air.

"Dosu-san!" Haku yelled in surprise. He took a couple steps backwards and managed to catch him before he crashed into the ground.

"Surprised?" They both turned to see a body begin to materialize out of the water. "My body is this pond and this pond is my body. You won't be getting across so easily."

"You...you're Suigetsu. The younger brother of Mangetsu." Haku said in awe as he set Dosu down on his feet.

"Oh, you've heard of me?" Suigetsu asked in surprise.

"Of course, I am a student of Momochi Zabuza." Haku stated proudly.

"Oh...then you would surely recognize this." Suigetsu slowly pulled a giant needle out of the water.

"Nuibari..." Haku breathed out. Of course he knew of that sword. Of all of the seven swords, that was the one he wanted the most. Even more so than Zabuza's own blade.

"We're getting off track here!" Dosu stamped his foot down and pointed at Suigetsu. "Tell us how to stop Zaku!"

The sound of familiar laughter echoed across the cave before Suigetsu could answer. "You can't stop me! That's impossible!"

"Zaku!" Dosu shouted as he began scanning around the cave for his former teammate. "Where are you?"

"Right here!" Dosu's eyes locked in on the green tube. What he saw caused both of his eyes to go wide. Floating in the middle of the liquid was the dismembered head of Zaku.

"Zaku...what happened to you?" Dosu couldn't believe his old teammate was nothing more than just a head in a tube. He clenched his fists in anger. "What the hell did you let Kabuto do to you?"

Zaku continued to laugh maniacally as it swam around the tube in zigzags. "I let him make me powerful!"

"Zaku..." Dosu took a couple steps closer but immediately a stream of water broke out of the pond and attacked him.

"No you don't!" Haku formed a group of one handed seals and the water froze in its tracks. "Dosu, you get over to Zaku. I'll deal with this guy. If he is made of water that means I have the advantage."

"Don't make that sound so easy. As long as he touches he water, I can halt his movement." Suigetsu bragged as he tapped his foot lightly on the water.

"That's presuming I touch it at all." The seal on Dosu's neck quickly spread to his whole body and then a moment later it began to envelope his whole skin. His spikey, brown hair turned long and white and his skin gray. His toes and fingers became hooked, and wings spread under his arm span. Finally, his ears turned triangular and jutted sideways.

"Oh..." Zaku was laughing again. "...and you yell at me for what I let Kabuto did to me body. What about your own?"

"This is different! I can still walk around! I'm not stuck in a tube!" Dosu flapped his wings and immediately took off towards the ceiling of the cave.

"Even if you fly you can't get past me!" Suigetsu shouted as the water began to rise towards Dosu.

"You have me to deal with!" Haku shouted as he appeared in front of Suigetsu. He swung his katana and lopped his opponents head clean off. Only for it to turn into water and then splash into the pond. Suigetsu laughed as his head reformed itself.

"That won't work! As long as I am on this pond, I can't die!" The water around Haku's feet began wrapping around his legs. Meanwhile, Dosu was still flying madly around as he tried to avoid being smashed by the water trailing after him.

"Then I'll just have to get you off the pond!" Haku created an ice mirror right behind Suigetsu while freezing the water that was attempting to bind his legs. He then jumped forward and tackled Suigetsu into the mirror. A moment later and they both fell out of one on the outside of the pond.

"Damn!" Suigetsu shouted as he rolled on the rocky ground. The water that had been trailing Dosu collapsed back into the pond as Suigetsu lost control of it.

He got up and immediately began to sprint for it but before he got even more the a couple steps he was completely surrounded by mirrors of ice. "You're not going anywhere." An image of Haku appeared inside each mirror.

"You shouldn't underestimate me or the power of Nuibari!" Suigetsu shouted as he held the giant needle forward. A long wire was attached to a loop at the bottom of the blade.

"You shouldn't underestimate my Kekkei Genkai." Haku shot back as he pulled out several senbon needles. A moment later and a dozen of them littered the ground and Suigetsu's body was covered in tiny holes.

"Heh, that didn't hurt at all..." He gave a shark-like smile. "...and you fell for my trap." It was then that Haku noticed the wire on the end of Nuibari was leading right to him.

Haku looked down in surprise to see the wire led right to his arm. "When did you...?"

"The moment you stepped out of your mirror. You're not the only fast one around here!" Suigetsu gave a massive tug and Haku was pulled out of his mirror and straight towards his opponent. "Now take this!" Suigetsu's knee drilled into Haku's stomach, knocking the wind from his body. Yet another moment later and Haku felt his whole arm go numb as Suigetsu used Nuibari to sew his arm to the side of his stomach.

"Now for your other arm." Suigetsu still had a razor sharp smile as he raised Nuibari up high.

"You seem to have forgotten I only need one hand to make seals!" Haku shouted as he immediately formed three seals. His hand began to glow bright blue for just a second as he slammed it into Suigetsu's face.

The sharkish boy only laughed. "What do you think that would do against me? I'm made of water!"

"Precisely." Haku smirked as he watched Suigestu's body began to freeze.

"W-what? What did you do to me?" Suigetsu asked in horror. He could do nothing as his body turned into solid ice.

"This is my win. That means Nuibari is mine." Those were the last words Suigetsu ever heard before he froze completely and then crumbled apart.

Haku bent down and picked up the sword. "This is going to take time to un-sew myself."

"You're on your own, Dosu."

Dosu's super-sensitive hearing just barely managed to pick up Haku's words. "That's a hell of a lot of pressure to put on a guy who has only been a Konoha Shinobi for a few hours!" He shouted loudly. He was closing in on the tube that held Zaku.

"A Konoha Shinobi?" Zaku asked while laughing. "You really have fallen low, Dosu!"

"I don't want to hear that from you!" Dosu dive-bombed at the tube. Before he was able to react, a giant air cannon rose from the top and fired, blasting into Dosu with such force that he was sent spiraling out of control. He crash landed on the miniature island in the middle of the pond and his curse seal then receded completely. "Damn it...I'm still worn out from my fight with Lee."

"Need help?" Zaku laughed as two mechanical pincers at the end of large metallic cords came out and grabbed onto either of Dosu's arms. They hefted him into the air and brought him right in front of the tube. Zaku's head than floated up to meet him. "You see what being a part of Konoha got you? You should have just quit and fled from the village. Now you're going to die a meaningless death."

"My life isn't meaningless." Dosu whispered fiercely under his breath. "Konoha taught me that as long as you try, nothing is meaningless." Zaku sneered at his former teammate as he talked. "...and you know what else they taught me?" For once, Zaku was completely quiet. "They taught me to never give up!" Dosu pulled his head back and then headbutted the glass tube with all his might, creating a massive crack.

"No!" Zaku threw him to the ground and immediately began trying to push at the giant crack with his mechanical pincers. A small amount of water was leaking out of it.

"Sorry, Zaku. You lose." Dosu sat up and flicked his sound manipulator with his finger. The sound-wave hit the cracked glass and shattered it completely.

"Dosu!" Zaku screamed as his dismembered head fell out of the tube and landed on the hard, rock surface. The head began to make strange gasping noises for a few moments and Dosu could only watch in pity as the green liquid that had sustained his former teammates life drained into the lake. Finally, after a few long antagonizing seconds, Zaku died.

Blood dripped down Dosu's forehead and into one of his eyes but he didn't care. Instead he let himself fall backwards so he could stare at the ceiling of the cave. "We did it."

Haku stepped up onto the small island.

"Yeah, we did it."

* * *

The Zaku that had buzzing around nastily suddenly all began to collapse and crash into the ground all at once. Taking note of this, the Shinobi of Konoha and Suna began cheering as they renewed their efforts to save the tree and fight off the remaining Otogakure Shinobi.

"Everyone, just a little more!" Hiruzen shouted as he began pulling with newfound strength. The tree was slowly but surely beginning to fall back into place with everyone's combined efforts. Choza pushed from the other side along with the Kazekage's golden dust jutsu. Meanwhile, Yamato finished repairing all the roots.

Finally, finally, the tree stood completely upright. All of the glowing green orbs that had been flickering out made a collective sheen noise as they returned back to their full strength.

A chorus of cheers rang out from all of the Konoha and Sunagakure Shinobi. They all dropped their wires and immediately charged up to aide those who were still in combat. The remaining Otogakure Shinobi became hopelessly outnumbered.

The Kazkekage collapsed to his knees, gasping heavily. Hiruzen ran up next to him. "Kazekage-dono! Are you well?"

"Of course I am." The Kazekage inhaled deeply and shakily got to his feet. "What are you standing around me for, this battle isn't over yet!"

Hiruzen smiled. "The battle may not be over, but thanks to your efforts..."

"...victory is within sight."


	31. Invasion Part 6

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_Invasion (Part 6)_

* * *

The roof of a once popular restaurant cracked open as Guy's body crashed through it. He fell into the establishment and his back hit a table, collapsing it beneath him. "Damn…Hiro-sensei kicks as hard as I remember." Guy stumbled to his feet and took a look around.

"Wait a second. I remember this place!" It brought back such early memories. This was the restaurant that Hinata had threatened to close down after they refused to let Naruto in. "No way…" He looked at the sign at the door that simply read: _Out of Business. _"…her threat actually worked?"

He didn't have any more time to ponder this as a second hole formed in the roof as a man who looked identical to Guy landed in the restaurant. "You're slowing down, Guy. Don't tell me your flames of youth are flickering in your old age?" Hiro gave his student a warm smile despite the horrible situation the two of them were in.

Guy laughed loudly as he placed his hands on his hips. "Don't be ridiculous, Hiro-sensei! My power of youth is about to explode! You better be ready when it does, because you won't be able to match me anymore! The student shall have surpassed the master!" He turned and pointed dramatically at his old sensei.

Hiro's warm smile became even bigger and it seemed to light itself up. "That's the spirit, young warrior! Let that youth break the sky as it pours forth!"

Guy returned the shining smile and their radiant beams seemed to glow even more brilliantly as they bounced off of one another. "Let us continue!" Guy settled into his favorite Goken stance.

"Yosh! Show me what you got!" Hiro mimicked the stance as they prepared to face off against one another.

"Oh, I shall show you!" Guy, instead of running forward, spun around and kicked the table that was right next to him. It went flying across the room and Hiro easily shattered it with his fist. In the split second that the table blocked his few, Guy had closed the gap and threw his most powerful punch, catching his sensei in the chin and knocking him further back into the establishment.

Hiro managed to stand on his feet and skid to a hard stop. Guy was immediately in front of him again, this time holding a chair that he swung forward. Hiro picked up the closest chair to himself and with one arm swung it. They smashed the chairs into the side of each other's faces, completely shattering the wood into pieces. If either man appeared the slightest bit bothered by the assault, they didn't show it.

Instead, Hiro swung his other arm forward, grabbed Guy by the neck and whipped him with all his might into the wall at the back. Guy shattered through it and rolled into the kitchen. He got back to his feet just in time to block Hiro's kick with his forearm. He pushed back and delivered his own powerful punch Hiro jumped backwards over. He landed next to the wall that was lined with all kinds of cooking knives.

He grabbed two of them and threw them like kunai. Guy, thinking fast grabbed the nearest pair of metal utensils he could, two spatulas. He used the small grates that lined the flat end to catch the knives and throw them aside. He took a couple steps forward as Hiro threw a couple more knives. Guy spun the spatulas around expertly, deflecting the knives that Hiro threw as he walked up to him.

Just as Hiro threw his last knife, Guy appeared right next to him, dropped the spatulas, picked up a huge pan and slammed it over top of his sensei's head, completely covering it. Blinded, Hiro wasn't able to do anything as Guy spun around a delivered a powerful kick to the side of the pot, knocking him clear off of his feet and through the nearest wall.

Guy immediately leapt through the hole his sensei had created to see that he was now inside of the bathroom, the women's one at that. There however, was no sign of his sensei. He looked and saw all six stall doors were closed. Cautiously, he walked up to the first one and with a mighty shout kicked the door off its hinges and into the wall. He then walked to the next one and did the same.

He repeated the process all the way up to the last one which he now stood cautiously in front of. Just as he raised his foot to kick, he felt someone vanish with extreme speed from the inside. The next thing he heard was the sound of a sink being ripped from the wall. He spun around and brought his arms up just in time.

Hiro swung a sink forward and smashed the sink into his student's body. The marble material shattered off of Guy's body and just as he lowered his guard, Hiro caught him in the chin with a strong left hook. Guy broke through the last stall door and fell so he was sitting on the toilet. Hiro, with a scream of exertion raised his foot high into the air and brought it down. Guy jumped off the toilet just in time. Hiro's foot smashed into it, shattering it completely and sending toilet water everywhere.

Guy jumped forward and tackled his sensei through the stall and into the next one. Holding onto the back of his sensei's head, he put his face right into the toilet, flushed it quick, before bringing both fist together and smashed him in the back of the head, shattering the toilet with Hiro's face.

Guy slowly dropped to his knees, panting heavily. Toilet water continuously sprayed from both toilets, soaking him and his unmoving sensei that lay face down in the slowly growing puddle. "Had enough…Hiro-sensei?" Guy asked between gasps of breath. His sensei had yet to move and he was beginning to hope that while he might not be killable, maybe it was possible to knock him out.

Suddenly, Hiro's hands twitched. Guy noticed it but had no time to react as his sensei's body sprang into action, grabbing him by the face and slamming him through the wall and back out into the streets. Guy fell onto the deserted street on his back but quickly rolled to his feet and took a couple steps back. The green orbs that had been flickering before shined brightly and powerfully.

Hiro slowly walked out of the building after him. "Flushing your own sensei's head…not youthful at all." He pulled at his damp hair.

Guy shrugged. "I'm never going to have the opportunity again. Got to take your chances when you get them, I think that happens to be quite a youthful way of life myself."

Hiro shook his head. "You should be taking this a little more seriously. You know I am immortal yet you engage me in only Taijutsu."

This time Guy rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "I was really hoping you were capable of being knocked out. It would appear that I am hoping for a little much."

This time Hiro just sighed as he rubbed his forehead. "I forgot how much of a handful you could be, Guy."

"I'll take that as a compliment, Hiro-sensei." Guy said as he smiled brightly at the dead man.

Hiro stared at him long and hard, no trace of a smile on his face. "I see…Guy, you really do miss me, don't you?" Guy's bright smile that was on his face faltered a little. "I'm sorry, Guy. I know it must have really hurt you when I never came back from that mission, but you can't drag this fight on with me for a selfish reason such as that. You have your own team now that you should be worrying about."

Guy's smile vanished completely as he tilted his head down, causing his hair to cover his eyes. "I know…I just can't help it. Battling with you like this reminds me of the times we used to spar together. I really missed those days. I had never wanted them to end."

"But they have ended, Guy. You can still be youthful, but you have to grow up a little too." Hiro said as gently as he could.

"Yeah, I know." Guy raised his head and again the smile that he had before returned. "I was really happy to see you again, Hiro-sensei. From here on out though, this battle is serious." Guy widened his stance and raised his arms up.

"That's my student." Hiro also returned the smile once again as he too widened his stance.

"First Gate: Open!" Energy erupted from their bodies as they both straightened themselves out, blasting the green orbs that hung around them backwards. Guy took one visible step forward and vanished. Hiro stepped to the side just in time to dodge Guy's fist. The shockwave that followed from his extreme speed continued forward and smashed into the building he and Hiro had just been fighting in, collapsing it completely.

Hiro brought his leg around in a strong kick but Guy caught it was both hands. Giving a loud shout he spun around and whirled his sensei down the street with all his might. Hiro flew straight on through several buildings before he rolled to a stop, leaving a small chain of holes in the walls that marked his path.

Guy cleared his way through the holes in less than a second and again appeared in front of his sensei, his foot raised high in the air. Hiro brought his forearms above his head and blocked the kick. He pushed off so hard that Guy was sent flying into the air. Hiro appeared above him, and punched his student in the stomach with such forth that Guy struck the ground and created a ten meter deep crater.

"Not bad…sensei…" More energy began to burst forward from his body.

"Second Gate: Open!" They both shouted before vanishing again. They both reappeared on top of a fourteen story hotel building, their fists striking into each other with such forth that the roof beneath them collapsed and they fell onto a bed in a small room. Guy slightly lost his balance for a half second but it was enough for Hiro to punch him straight threw the wall and into the hallway.

Guy leaned against the wall of the hallway, panting heavily as Hiro appeared again. Just before he could swing his fist forward, Guy vanished and then drilled his elbow into his sensei's head, knocking him down a floor. He then jumped down after him to see he had widened his stance once again. Guy, still in midair, crossed his arms as well.

"Third Gate: Open!" The energy that ripped from their bodies completely knocked down the walls around them. A moment later and they heard a loud creaking as the two stories above them began to collapse. The top floor smashed into the one below that and then it happened again. In just seconds, Guy and Hiro were falling as the entire fourteen floor building caved in on itself.

Hiro kicked off of a piece of debris that tumbled all around them and flew right at his student, his fist outstretched. Guy blocked the punch with his forearm, and flew back into a falling bed that he launched off of. He delivered a powerful spinning kick that sent Hiro flying into more debris that he again kicked off of.

This continued all the way to the bottom, the two of them kicking off of falling objects as they attacked and counterattacked one another. Soon they both landed nimbly on their feet but the rest of the building came down on top of them, burying them both.

Silence settled as all the creaking and crashing stopped as the destroyed building finally came to rest. It only lasted for a couple seconds as all the pieces of debris began shaking wildly. Just a moment later and it was all blown away and sent flying into the air.

"Fourth Gate: Open!" Guy and Hiro shouted as their glowing figures became visible once again. They both jumped forward and spun in the air. At the end of their spin they kicked at one another, their legs colliding into each other in midair with such forth that the very ground beneath them cracked.

They both landed nimbly on the cracking street that finally gave way completely. They both landed down in the sewers beneath Konoha. Guy barely touched the water before he jumped forward and delivered a punch so powerful that Hiro was sent flying down the sewer path. Every time he shot passed a manhole, the lid was blasted skywards from the wind pressure.

Hiro finally managed to skid himself to a stop, creating massive waves as he did. He was now almost completely enshrouded in darkness with some of the only light coming from the open manholes. That didn't matter to a Shinobi as trained as he however. He could hear Guy's movements as he moved with blinding speeds.

Hiro bent over backwards and dodged a kick that would have otherwise split him in half and then grabbed onto Guy's leg. He swung him straight into the wall with such force that Guy broke on through it and landed on the sewer path a whole street over. He looked up and he and his sensei stared hard at one another from their opposing sides. They then once again widened their stances.

"Fifth Gate: Open!"

* * *

"Enma, Extend!" Hiruzen shouted as he swatted down four Otogakure Shinobi at once.

"Mokuton no Jutsu!" Another couple were absorbed into the tree by Yamato's wood technique.

"Disappear." The Kazekage clenched his hands and with a chorus of screams his golden dust crushed a group of Otogakure Shinobi.

"Mushidama!" Gen enclosed yet another group of the enemy Shinobi inside a sphere of his insects.

"Gatsuuga!"

"Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!"

"Bubun Baika no Jutsu!"

Kiba, Sasuke, and Choji all ganged up on a single Jonin from Otogakure, successfully bringing him down.

"Tenten, he's in a genjutsu!" Sakura shouted as she trapped another Jonin in her illusions.

"Got it!" Tenten flicked her wrist and a kunai buried itself into the man's head.

Hayate gave a shout of exertion as he chopped down the last couple around him. He stood panting heavily as he turned and looked over the dwindling battles. "There are only a couple of them left, while there are still several hundred of our own. This battle is ours."

Hiruzen nodded proudly as he watched what Otogakure Shinobi remain begin to drop their weapons and hold their hands up in surrender. He was drenched with sweat himself and he could see the Kazekage looked ready to fall over at any second. Everyone appeared that way. While many of them had survived, if too much more had happened, he doubted they would have had the strength to carry on.

"What ever happened to Guy?" Asuma asked as he plopped down on the ground and lit up a cigarette.

Kakashi, who had just finally gotten some of his movements back, limped up to the smoking Shinobi with the help of a broken hunk of wood that acted as a cane. His sharingan eye was covered back up. "He was fighting Saikyou Hiro but their battle took them off somewhere."

"I have sent several of my men that are capable of sealing to assist him." The Kazekage wiped the sweat that was leaking into his eyes away. "We should be hearing from them favorably soon."

"Kazekage-sama!"

"There they are now." The young Kage turned to his men but quickly noticed they looked incredibly panicked. "What happened?"

The Shinobi landed in front of their Kage, bowed deeply in regret. "We went to seal Hiro as requested but…"

"They couldn't have possibly opened several of the gates already?" Hiruzen asked in worry.

"Well, actually…" The Shinobi sweat profusely as he looked up at both Kage. "…we couldn't tell which one was which. They both looked the same."

Everyone present practically fell over. "Are you freaking kidding me?" The Kazekage bellowed at the top of his lungs. "You call yourself Sunagakure Shinobi?" He had never felt so ashamed his whole life.

"We're sorry, sir. It was truly confusing." Before they could mumble any more words of apology the ground beneath everyone began shaking violently.

"W-what's going on?" Kurenai asked as she tried her best to stand upright. She didn't have to wait long to get her answer.

Guy and Hiro burst out of the ground, right in the middle of all of the Konoha and Suna Shinobi. "Well I'll be damned…even I can't tell the difference." The Kazekage deadpanned.

They both landed several feet away from the hole they had made when they came out and slowly observed the area around them. Guy smiled brightly at what he saw. "It would appear the battle is over! You're all that's left, Hiro-sensei!"

The Hokage turned his head slightly and nodded at the sealing group that had just returned. "That answer your question?" He then turned back and yelled loudly. "Everyone give your aide to Might Guy! Defeat the last enemy that stands between us and victory!"

"That kind of hurts, being referred to as the enemy, even if it's true." Hiro gave a sad smile as all the Shinobi in the vicinity began to charge at him. He spread his stance.

"Everyone, get away from him!" Guy shouted too late as a couple dozen Shinobi from both villages closed in on Hiro.

"Sixth Gate: Open!" They were all blasted completely away from the force of energy that Hiro emitted. Normally it would have been no problem for the Shinobi to recover from the impact, however, in their exhausted state, none of them were even able to land properly and they all collapsed to the ground in a heap. Most of them didn't get back up.

"Damn…Sixth Gate: Open!" Guy shouted as he too powered up.

Hiro jumped high into the air as the Shinobi continued to try to swarm in on him. A dozen cloth wrappings and puppets intent on sealing him followed after him. "Asa Kujaku!" He began pumping his fists rapidly and whole barrage of fireballs began to rain down on all of the present Shinobi, also burning apart anything that could have sealed him.

"Asa Kujaku!" Guy shouted as he fired his own series of fireballs skywards. The balls of fire collided in the air yet some continued to make their way through and bombard the Shinobi on the ground.

"I've had enough!" The Kazkekage waved his fingers and a giant wave of golden dust rose to attack Hiro.

Hiro, still in midair, turned towards the giant wave of sand. He launched even more fireballs that battered the golden dust, morphing it together and making it harder for the Kazekage to control.

"Impossible…" The Kazekage couldn't believe what he had just seen.

Hiro as he began to fall back towards the ground raised his arms up. Guy had no choice but to do the same in hopes of being able to keep up.

"Seventh Gate: Open!" They both shouted as more energy burst forward from their bodies. Green sweat began to leak out of every pore in their body as they slowly pushed themselves to the limit.

"This is not going to be pretty." Yamato watched in horror as the green energy began to take the shape of two tigers. "Everyone needs to take cover!"

"Enma!" Hiruzen shouted.

"I'm already on it!" Enma formed himself into a cage around both Kage, Hayate, Yamato, Asuma, and Kakashi.

"Hirudora!" Both men shouted as they swung their fists at one another. The giant tiger heads appeared to roar as they moved forward, slowly getting smaller as they continued on. Just as they compacted to the size of fists, they ran into each other and exploded. The resulting gust was so immensely powerful that everyone was blown away and all the buildings for at least twenty surrounding blocks were knocked completely over.

"What the hell is going on?" Tenten yelled as she, Sasuke, Kiba, Sakura, and Choji were all sent flying from the torrent of wind along with everyone else. No one was capable of responding to her.

The giant tree bent and the leaves rustled loudly but somehow it managed to stay standing throughout the terrible blast. Finally, everything settled down.

However, Hiruzen didn't like what he saw. Only Guy, Hiro, and the ones that Enma had protected were left standing. Everyone else had been blown away and likely incapacitated by the strong clashing jutsu.

"To think we would be reduced down to this…" The Kazekage couldn't believe it. What had once been a full scale war had turned into this. Just seven people versus one enemy.

"Hiro-sensei…don't do this. We have to stop here." Guy pleaded desperately.

"I'm sorry, Guy." Hiro shifted his stance for the last time.

"Eight Gate: Open!" The green sweat that had been leaking off his body turned blood red as his body reached its limit and he opened the final gate.

Guy took a small step back from the incredible energy that surged from the man in front of him. "Hiro-sensei!" He didn't even see his sensei move, but he felt his fist when it smashed into his stomach and sent him bouncing painfully across the now completely flat battlefield.

"I've had enough!" The Kazekage sent another barrage of golden dust at his opponent. Hiro shifted his stance and pulled his arm backwards. With a mighty shout he punched at the golden dust and battered it away and right back at the Kazekage. He could only raise his arms in defense as he was defeated by his own Jutsu.

"Mokuton no Jutsu!" Yamato shouted as he slammed his hands on the ground. The wood from the tree shot forward and stretched out towards Hiro. As it got close to him the wood suddenly caught fire and Yamato was forced to pull it back or risk setting the whole tree ablaze.

Hiro raised his foot high into the air and slammed it down. The earth beneath him and all the way to Yamato crumbled. The man could do nothing as he was battered and bruised by the twisting earth. When it finally stopped, he didn't get back up.

"Take this!" Hayate and Asuma each appeared from the side, the Samurai with his sword, and Asuma with his chakra knives. Neither of them stood a chance as Hiro's fists smashed into their faces, knocking them out well before they went flying backwards.

"Damn, this is getting out of hand." Kakashi dropped the piece of wood he had been leaning on and began to form a set of seals.

"You fool! You'll die if you use any more Jutsu!" Sarutobi smashed Enma into Kakashi's gut, knocking the wind from his body and doubling him over. He then turned back towards Hiro. "Enma, Extend!" He pointed the staff straight at Hiro as it shot forward. It smashed into the man's chest but halted completely and couldn't extend any further.

"He halted my extension?" Enma gasped in surprise.

"Hokage-sama…" Hiro acknowledged as he stared at the old man. "…it's great to see you still alive. Please forgive me for what I am about to do."

"You can't possibly be planning to use that move?" Hiruzen had thought maybe he had gotten out of sacrificing himself using Shiki Fujin when Orochimaru had been defeated. It now looked like he might have to use it after all. That's what he thought until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned in surprise to see Guy standing there.

"Hokage-sama. This is my battle; please don't trouble yourself with this." Guy stumbled forward and past his leader.

"Guy…" Sarutobi shook himself of his shock. …don't!" He yelled too late.

"Eight Gate: Open!" The green sweat around Guy also turned blood red as he too opened the final gate. "I see…it turns this way because it literally is your blood mixing in with your sweat. What an awful technique." Every part of Guy's body screamed in pain as he and his sensei locked eyes.

"Guy…I never wanted you to have to share my fate. What a tragedy." Hiro shook his head sadly.

"It's alright, Hiro-sensei. If it is for this village, for my team, I will gladly give my life." Guy settled himself into a stance he had never used before. He wasn't sure how, but he knew it.

Hiro slowly settled into the stance as well. "The ultimate technique of the gates…Yoruryu."

"Let's do it." Guy said solemnly. The blood red sweat around them began swirling violently. A moment later and both men were set ablaze by a fire so bright, Sarutobi had to avert his eyes.

"Yoruryu!" They shouted as the fire around them took the shape of dragonheads. The two dragon heads launched straight at each other. Sarutobi watched through the gaps in his fingers as the two dragons ran into each other and then bent straight up at a ninety degree angle.

He could do nothing but stare in awe as the sky changed to look like the sun was setting as the two flaming dragons formed a spiral as they circled around and attacked one another while flying straight upwards. Finally, after raising hundreds of feet into the air, both dragons let out a bestial roar, collided once more in an explosion that lit up the sky for thousands of miles, and then flickered out completely.

The sky slowly began to return to normal and Hiruzen squinted his eyes at the sky, trying to catch a glimpse of either man.

"Sarutobi! There!" Enma's arm materialized out of the staff and pointed in the sky. Just moments later and the Hokage spotted the smoking bodies of both men as they fell towards the ground.

"Guy!" Sarutobi shouted as he ran forward. Enma transformed completely back to normal and ran forward with him.

"Guy!" Sarutobi turned to see Kakashi was behind him and running forward too. Despite his heavy injuries and having been doubled over, he was back on his feet and running with a heavy limp towards his eternal rival.

The old man and the monkey managed to get below Guy just seconds before he hit the ground. They stretched their arms out and caught him together. Hiro hit the ground with full force, leaving a small crater.

"How cruel…" Hiro mumbled as he slowly began to stumble his way out. Sarutobi turned to him. While he was still weak, he was going to seal him. However, to his surprise he saw Hiro was already crumbling apart. "…It would appear that not even an immortal body can take the strain of using that move."

Guy's chuckling caused everyone to turn to him in surprise. Kakashi had just arrived on scene too. "That sure was youthful, huh?"

"Youthful, more like it stole all your youth from you." Hiro sighed as most of his body had all but deteriorated. "Guy…I'm proud of you. You are a real hero."

"Thank you, it was great to see you again, Hiro-sensei." Guy and his sensei shared one last smile before Hiro crumbled away completely.

Guy gave a ragged cough. His skin was blackened from burns and most of his spandex was all but burnt off. "Guess this is really it."

"Guy." Kakashi bent down at took the man's hand in his. "If there's anything you want, just let me know."

Guy attempted to chuckle but instead gave another terrible cough. "I just really wish I could talk to my team one last time."

"…I might be able to help." Everyone turned in surprise to see a dazed and teary looking Ino. "I was unconscious and away from the blast zone until the last attack. I watched those dragons rise into the sky and came to check it out when I saw Hokage-sama."

"You're saying you can connect me to my students?" Guy asked hopefully.

Ino twirled her hair, a troubled look on her face. "I should be able to. I'm not especially close to them but as long as they don't reject my mind link, I should be able to connect our thoughts."

"What do I have to do?" Guy coughed as he tried to sit himself up.

"Just hold my hand, I'll take care of the rest."


	32. Invasion Part 7

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_Invasion (Part 7)_

* * *

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted as he created another group of clones. Kabuto had just destroyed his last group and was now holding off Lee and Hinata's combined Taijutsu with extreme ease. "Come on guys, let's go!" Naruto's clones gave a shout of agreement as they charged forward with the original.

Kabuto chuckled as he flipped backwards and away from Hinata and Lee's attacks. His hands were glowing a bright blue, showing his Chakra scalpel technique was in use. "This isn't even a fight. Three completely exhausted Genin think they can defeat me?"

"We will show you!" Lee yelled just as Naruto and his clones ran past him and Hinata. He joined them and charged forward. He wasn't going to be the one to admit it, but Kabuto was right about one thing. They were all completely exhausted. Lee himself, had opened the first gate three times within a two hour period and had opened another five on top of that once. He doubted he had the strength left to open them again.

Naruto, for what it was worth, seemed to have most of his physical energy back, but was lacking greatly on chakra and it was clear that he was afraid of using too much of it for fear of tapping into the Kyuubi's. The simplest push could possibly be enough to break the temporary fix he had accomplished on the seal.

Hinata's condition wasn't much better. While her fight with Neji hadn't seemed to bother her too much at the time, the effects of taking all those Jyuuken strikes were really starting to show now as the battle continued on. She barely had any chakra reserves left and she had run out of arrows to fire entirely in her last battle so she couldn't fall back and rely on that either. All in all they were in a bad situation.

"_Naruto! Hinata! Lee!" _They all immediately skidded to a halt, splashing water everywhere as they heard a voice inside their minds. Kabuto raised his eyebrows curiously at the sudden halt.

"Ino?" Naruto asked aloud. "Am I going crazy?"

"_No! It really is me! I'm talking into your minds!" _Lee and Hinata shared a concerned look. Ino sounded incredibly panicked.

"Ino-san! What's wrong?" Hinata wasn't sure if it helped but she shouted her sentence out loud like Naruto had done.

Kabuto finally seemed to understand what was going on, but instead of doing anything, he relaxed his stance. He was going to see this play out.

"_Guy-sensei…your sensei is…he's going to talk to you guys, himself." _Even Naruto had a bad feeling welling up in his stomach.

"_Lee, Naruto, Hinata." _Guy's voice reached their heads but they all immediately sensed something was off. His voice sounded incredibly quiet. Before they could say anything, they heard their sensei giving a terribly ragged cough. _"I don't have much time left…so I'm going to have to make this quick."_

Naruto finally snapped out of his shock. "You don't have much time left? What do you mean? Is Ino going to lose connection?"

"_No…I'm sorry team, I'm dying."_

"Dying?" They all gasped at once. Hinata raised his hands to her mouth. Lee took a step forward and stared up at the sky, his face showed clear denial of the idea. Naruto's mouth simply hung open.

"This is a trick to motivate us, right?" Lee screamed into the air.

"_I would never play such an unyouthful trick on my students, you should all know that." _Guy's voice sounded deadly serious and Lee realized now that he was telling the truth.

Naruto however, wasn't convinced. "That's not possible!" He too looked up at the sky as he yelled. "How could you have been defeated? You're Guy-sensei, the most youthful Jonin alive!"

"_Things took a terrible turn for the worse out here…"_ Guy broke into another terrible fit of coughing. This time it sounded like he hacked up some blood. _"…I was forced to open the Eighth Gate. Now my time is at an end."_

"Why?" Hinata asked as she began feverously wiping at her eyes, trying to stop the tears. "Why did this all have to happen?"

"…_Young Ino here is connecting my to you so I can pass on my final words…as your Sensei. I…couldn't leave you without saying...goodbye." _Guy's voice got more and more labored as he had to pause between his words to gasp for breath.

"Don't go at all Guy-sensei! It isn't fair!" Naruto stomped the ground as he too fought off tears.

"_Naruto…that spirit to never give up is your greatest strength. Even in the darkest of situations, I know it will enable you to find a way out. You've always had the spirit crafty fox after all."_

"_Hinata…the confidence of you have built in yourself can be either your most powerful asset, or your biggest weakness. Always remain humble and you will not steer down the wrong path. I know you can do it, my strong lioness."_

"_Lee…you are the oldest of the group and I'm leaving it to you to guide your teammates and steer them on the proper path. You have inherited the strength of youth, the strength of a fearless tiger."_

"Guy-sensei…" All three of his student's let their tears fall openly as he finished speaking to each of them individually.

"_If the three of you remember nothing else that I have taught you, I ask you that you remember this. You've made me proud as a Sensei and I would trade the whole world for you three. I love you..."_

"…_Goodbye, my students."_

"Guy-sensei!" All three of them shouted as they felt the connection between their minds separate. Hinata crashed to the ground on her knees and held her eyes as she cried into her hands. The original Naruto walked up to her and slowly stroaked the top of her head, his tears dripping into the water as he did. Lee stood completely rigid, his body shaking every now and then as he did his best to hold his in.

Kabuto chuckled lightly as he slowly took a couple steps towards them. "Bad news from the outside?" He asked mockingly.

A second later though and Kabuto's smirk fell off his face as three incredible blasts of chakra reached him at once. He took a slight step back and raised a hand to slightly shield his face. Naruto was surging forth with red energy while, Hinata with blue and Lee with clear as they each released incredible power.

"You bastard…" Hinata, slowly, robotically got up to her feet, her hair danced wildly from the chakra that danced in brilliant blue flames that whipped wildly around her.

"…we're going to tear you to shreds." Naruto's eyes glowed deep red and it was clear that other than giving into his rage, the Kyuubi wasn't in control of his body at all.

Lee appeared to have opened three of the gates automatically as the water around him swirled magnificently. "I hope you are ready to answer for all of your wrongs."

They all began to move as one.

"Kabuto!"

* * *

"Ino…thank you." Guy whispered as his hand grew heavy and his grip around Ino's hand loosened.

"Y-yeah…" Ino let his hand fall to the ground and quickly turned away, attempting to mask her own tears. Guy's last words to his student had even touched her. She was surprised to see her father standing sadly behind her. "Dad!" She wailed as she threw herself onto him. Inoichi wrapped his arms around his daughter as she cried into his chest.

Kakashi bowed his head in shame. He didn't even pay attention to the fact that all the Shinobi that had been previously blasted away were slowly making their way back. Soon there was a crowd of a couple hundred Shinobi all gathered in a massive circle around the corpse of Might Guy.

"Guy…it shouldn't have been this way." Hiruzen whispered as he touched the man's hand. "You should have left the job to sacrifice himself to this foolish old man."

"Guy-sensei!" Tenten shouted as she ran forward and dropped to her knees next to his lifeless body. "Guy-sensei!" She shouted as she began to shake his body, tears flowing opening already from her eyes.

Kakashi slowly opened his mouth to say his own parting words but he then finally seemed to notice something. The green orbs that had previously been blown away had returned to the area. What's more, there was easily three times of many of them as before and they seemed to be hanging over Guy's body.

Slowly, the orbs began to swirl lightly around Guy's chest. Faster and faster they began to spin and Kakashi turned his one eye away to look behind him. At first he couldn't see because of the massive group of Shinobi present but when he got to his feet he could see green orbs flying in from all over the village. They all joined the swirling torrent of orbs that was beginning to look more and more like a tornado that drilled into Guy's chest.

Guy's body began to glow a green as bright as the orbs of the tornado appeared to be sinking into his body. Everyone watched breathlessly as Guy's clothes slowly repaired themselves, his orange legwarmers that had been no more completely reconstructed, the holes in his spandex patched up and his Chunin vest repaired itself. What's more, his once blackened skin began to return to his normal complexion.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the last of the green orbs disappeared into Guy's chest and the green aura that surrounded him dissipated. Then, miraculously, Guy's chest began rising and falling as his breathing returned.

"He's alive…" Kakashi whispered. A loud mumble broke out amongst the rest of the Shinobi as they passed out what Kakashi had just said.

Guy's eyes fluttered open slowly and he groaned loudly. "…I didn't imagine the afterworld being such a bright place." He hefted himself up to a sitting position, holding onto his head like he had a bad headache as he did. He finally took in his surroundings. When he did he jumped to his feet in one fluid motion, knocking Tenten aside and onto her butt as he did. "Don't tell me you all died too!" He looked completely panicked.

"Guy…you're alive." Hiruzen said as he got up to his feet.

"Come again?" Guy asked as he took in the surroundings. It definitely looked like Konoha to him. "…How?"

"The Shodai, his protection Jutsu revived you as its final act." Yamato said proudly as he pushed his way through the crowd.

"…So, I'm really alive?" He asked in disbelief.

"Guy-sensei! Your definitely alive! There's no way you could be taken out!" Tenten said with a bright smile as she stood up.

"The first man to ever survive opening all Eight of the Celestial Gates." The Kazekage clarified as a small path opened up, revealing his badly beaten form.

"Not a bad title." Kakashi chuckled as he leaned an arm on Guy's shoulder. "Pretty fitting for my eternal rival. Your name is bound become a legend in history with a name like that."

"…but, I gave such an epic death monologue. What are my students going to think when they suddenly see me alive?" Guy shouted, suddenly in a panic. "Where is Ino? I need to tell them right away!" Kakashi pulled him back before he could run off and Guy stared at him in amazement. His one eye smiled craftily at the just resurrected man.

"Maybe we should hold off on that."

* * *

Kabuto was dumbfounded. Just a second ago and he had had this fight in the bag. Now he was barely dodging attacks from the three Genin that were giving him no room to counter whatsoever.

"Double Leaf Hurricane!" Naruto appeared spinning from the front and Lee from the back, their legs coming around in a kick.

"Kawarimi no Jutsu!" Kabuto substituted himself with a piece of the splintered cross. Had he been a second slowly and he was positive he would have lost his head as Lee and Naruto's legs smashed into each other in midair.

"Take this!" Hinata shouted as she fired off three arrows from her bow at once.

"I thought she was out of arrows…" Kabuto didn't understand. It all made sense a second later as the arrows transformed into Narutos that were flying at him at high speeds. Kabuto ducked and rolled out of the way, barely dodging the clones as they flew past him.

"You're not going anywhere! Suiton: Mizurappa no Jutsu!" Naruto inhaled and breathed out a powerful jet stream of water that slammed into the back of a charging Lee. It propelled Lee forward with such velocity that Kabuto had no choice but to raise his forearms in front of himself to block that strike. The force of the blow he could tell shattered both of his bones and he was sent flying straight across the arena.

"Not good…." Kabuto's bones instantly mended themselves and he landed on the water on his feet, skidding slowly to a stop. To his surprise Hinata was already just a couple feet away, having predicted where he would land.

Kabuto stepped back lightly and deflected her first couple Jyuuken strikes. He then stepped to the side and brought his hand up, ready to cut her down with his Chakra scalpel. Before he could, he felt a blade of wind pierce him straight through the arm. He gave a shout of pain and stepped backwards but Hinata took the chance to spear him in the stomach with her enhanced palm. Kabuto spit blood and doubled backwards. Hinata pressed forward while Naruto continued to give her ranged support.

"Naruto Typhoon no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted as he combined his wind blades with a water jutsu, launching a deadly drill made of both right at the two battling opponents.

Kabuto crouched lightly down and ducked under Hinata's next Jyuuken swipe, but before he could swing his leg forward in a sweep that would have tripped her and knocked her into Naruto's jutsu, he felt Lee's arm wrappings bind his leg. "What?" He spun to see Lee standing just off to the side. When he turned back Hinata was no longer in sight and the Jutsu was on him.

"Kawarimi no Jutsu!" Once again, Kabuto barely got out of the way by using the substitution technique. "What insane teamwork. They're working so well together that I can't even find an opening at all."

"Hakkesho Kaiten: Attack Mode!" Lee and Hinata shouted together as the spinning defense turned drill flew straight at Kabuto.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted as he created four clones right above Kabuto that immediately latched onto the man's limbs, restricting his movements.

"Get off of me!" Kabuto attempted to pull himself free but it was too late. The spinning drill smashed into his stomach, knocking him clear off of his feet and sending him flying into the wall of his own barrier. He began to shake violently as the black wall shocked him heavily with strong currents of electricity.

After a few moments, he finally pulled free and tumbled head over heels towards the ground. He hit the water with a loud splash. "Did that get him?" Lee asked as he and Hinata separated. The original Naruto landed right next to them, ready to create more clones.

To their disbelief, Kabuto slowly picked himself up from the water. His glasses had been shattered and had fallen off of his face and his clothes had a huge hole, revealing his perfectly unharmed stomach.

"Impossible! That technique should have torn his insides apart!" Lee couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Kabuto began chuckling quietly and that chuckle soon grew louder and louder. In just a matter of moments it was full blown laughter. "My body is invincible! Any damage you do I can just regenerate right through! You have no chance of beating me!" He reached into his back pouch and pulled out a syringe needle. "Now I'll show you true hopelessness!" He put the needle into his arm and injected the contents into himself.

"That can't be good..." Naruto was forced to take a step back as purple energy erupted from Kabuto's body in violent waves.

"All the power of a curse seal without gaining a permanent mark or suffering the dangerous side-effects it poses to the body." Kabuto said while laughing. "It's only a temporary boost of power but I think you three will find it will be more than enough for me to be able to match up to three little Genin!" A moment later and he vanished from all of their sights.

"He's fast!" Naruto said in surprise not even a second before the bottom of Kabuto's foot smashed into the back of his head, sending him flying across the arena. Kabuto was now in between both Hinata and Lee.

"Crap!" Hinata and Lee both jumped sideways and barely managed to dodge out of the way as Kabuto swung his chakra scalpel at their throats.

"I won't let you two get away! The only one I need alive is Naruto!" Kabuto yelled as he turned and chased after Hinata.

"Kaiten!" Hinata shouted as she activated her spinning shield. Kabuto's hand bounced backwards as he struck at it.

"Leave her alone!" Four Narutos shouted as they all descended on him.

"You just don't know when to give up, do you?" Kabuto dodged the first one as it punched at him and kneed him hard in the stomach. It flew backwards and smashed into a second one. The remaining two pulled out their chakra knives and swung them forward. Kabuto effortlessly caught the clones' hands. He then twirled around and effortlessly threw them both halfway across the arena.

"Jyuuken!" Hinata was already within Kabuto's guard, her open palm swinging forward.

"That won't touch me!" Kabuto vanished and reappeared instantly behind her, his hand raised in the air, ready to chop down.

"Konoha Kaigansho!" Lee shouted as his elbow smashed into Kabuto's forearm, halting his attack.

"How nice of you to both stick right close to me!" Kabuto smiled wickedly as he swung his other hand forward. His chakra scalpel sliced into Lee's throat. Just another moment later and he sliced into Hinata's. To his irritation, they both popped into a cloud of smoke a moment later. "So you switched out already? Clever move, Naruto-kun." He turned to see Naruto, Lee, and Hinata all standing side-by-side, gasping for breath.

"I can't keep this up." Naruto was holding his side. He looked ready to tip over. Lee looked even worse.

"I'm starting to reach my limit too…" Hinata mumbled regretfully. "…this last move is going to have to be the winning one."

"You do not mean we should use _that _move, do you? We have never successfully pulled it off." Lee turned to her with wide eyes.

Naruo cracked his knuckles and licked his lips. "No time like the present. Besides, failure isn't an option this time. Not after what this bastard did to Guy-sensei."

Lee finally nodded. "Alright, let's do it."

"As if I'd let you!" Kabuto took a couple steps forward but then the last person in the arena stepped in between him and the three of them. "You…how can you move?"

"Neji?" They all asked in surprise. The Hyuuga genius turned his head towards them, his Byakugan was activated.

"It was like you said Lee, I couldn't break free of the body control because I lacked the will to truly try…" He turned back towards Kabuto. "…I don't know if I'm ready to throw away my belief in fate, but I do know this: If it is fate that this village be destroyed after a great man like Guy-sensei gave his life to save it then I will fight that fate with everything I got!"

"Neji…" Lee smiled happily at his old teammate. "…hold him just long enough for us to complete our Jutsu! We'll finish the job!"

"Got it!" Neji charged forward before Lee had even finished talking.

"Who the hell do you think you are messing with?" Kabuto roared as he met Neji's charge head on. "I am the man that is going to control this whole world!"

"We'll see about that! Fate or not, we will stop you!" Neji swung his palm forward and Kabuto battered it to the side. He then stepped in and attacked at Neji's organs with his chakra scalpel.

Ducking back, Neji just barely dodged the attack and then struck at Kabuto's outstretched arm with his index finger. Kabuto let out a small hiss of pain as he swung his leg forward. He caught Neji in the ribs with his foot, knocking the Hyuuga Genius to the side and out of the way.

He turned back to the three Genin of Guy's team and was curious at what he saw. Hinata's hands were encased in blue chakra in the shape of Lion heads. Naruto's were encased in red chakra in the shape of fox heads.

"Juho Soshiken!"

"Juho Kitsuneken!"

They each yelled their technique name respectively. They then turned to Lee who was sweating profusely. "I can do this…" His hands were shaking violently. Finally, after just another couple moments of strain, green sweat broke forward from only his hands. "Yes…Seventh Gate: Partial Opening!" Lee stood up next to his teammates. The green sweat around his hands changed shape and took the form of two tiger heads.

"Juho Toraken!"

"A partial open?" Kabuto asked in surprise as he began to run forward. "What good comes of fighting me? You're only making your deaths that much more painful!"

"We'll see about that!" Naruto yelled before he nodded to each of his teammates. "Let's go!" They all charged forward.

Kabuto skid to a halt and the purple energy that had been swirling around him flared up violently. "Fine then, have it your way!" He brought his arm back and the energy around his fist began to spin magnificently for just a moment before it seemed to trip and tinker. "What?" Kabuto asked in surprise as he looked at his arm. It was then he realized what had happened. "No way..." He looked to Neji to seem him smirking victoriously. He had cut the tenketsu point in his arm, meaning he couldn't properly channel the chakra for his attack.

Which also meant he couldn't counter theirs.

"Take this!" All three of them shouted together as they each swung a fist forward. The red fox, blue lion, and green tiger all swirled together into one focal point as they did.

"Juho Rendan!"

* * *

"Is everyone prepared?" Sarutobi shouted as he observed all of his and the Kazekage's Shinobi. They all now stood outside of the still fully erected barrier, prepared for the next possible battle. Hiashi and everyone else had already been treated and the barrier squad was again hard at work trying to take it down.

"Yes, sir!" Everyone shouted, albeit nervously. They were all aware that at any moment, the Kyuubi no Yoko could break through and attack them all.

"No matter what comes through, when that barrier opens! Be prepared!" Sarutobi shouted to all his men. He then turned to the Kazekage that stood on his left. "Regardless of the outcome, I am thankful for you help."

The young Kage shrugged his shoulders. "I am sure things will work out. Might Guy seems to think so." At the mention of the still living man, Sarutobi turned back towards him. He stood just behind the barrier squad. Guy was going to be the first one through the barrier, no matter what.

"Calm down, Guy." Kakashi patted his eternal rival on the shoulder. The youthful man was trembling in anxiety. "They'll make it out of there, just believe in them."

"I believe in them." Guy responded immediately. "They've just been in there for a long time. No one should be able to fight for that long. Kabuto really is one tenacious bastard. I should have just killed him when he met him in the forest."

"This is no time to be thinking about what you should have done. You just need to focus on what to do next." Kakashi finally pulled his hand off Guy's shoulder as he turned back towards the barrier.

Suddenly, the sound of cracking from about twenty feet off the ground caused everyone to turn and gave at a spot about that high on the black barrier. What they saw surprised them. The black wall appeared to be cracking apart from that point.

"Was that you?" Guy asked hopefully as he looked down at the barrier squad. They all shook their heads and just as he looked back up, the barrier gave way completely. No one expected to see a giant spinning beam made of blue, red, and green energy that continued to fly at a steady angle into the air. After traveling for a full minute the spiraling beam finally tinkered out of existence.

Just as it did, the black barrier collapsed the rest of the way and all the pieces seemed to disappear. Guy immediately charged into the arena through the gap that Lee and Naruto had created during their fight. What he saw caused him to fall to his knees immediately in relief.

Naruto, Hinata and Lee were all safe. They stood panting over Kabuto's kneeling form. Said white-haired man had a giant hole in his stomach.

"Why…isn't my regeneration working?" Kabuto had a waterfall of blood pouring from his lips.

"Easy, you just got hit by not only Hinata's strongest Jyuuken strike but a big dose of Kyuubi's chakra too." Naruto answered between gasps of breath.

"Combined with Lee-senpai's fist as well, it is no wonder your chakra network has shut down completely." Hinata leaned heavily against her boyfriend.

"This battle is ours, Kabuto. You failed to extract the fox and you failed to destroy the Leaf." Lee's hands looked like they had been stuck through a grinder but he didn't look even slightly bothered by it.

"I see…" Kabuto mumbled as his body slowly began to fall forward. "…my experiment was a...failure." He fell face first into the ankle deep water and never moved again.

"We did it…" Naruto tried to smile but the attempt only came out bitter. "…we avenged Guy-sensei."

The sound of someone clearing their throat caused them all to look up. Their sensei stood smiling at them all proudly. "Actually, it turns out I won't be leaving quite just yet. I still got some youth in me, after all."

"G-Guy-sensei…" They all whispered in disbelief.

"I know you three must be mad, thinking I lied, but believe me, I really thought I was going to die." Guy rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Actually, this kind of reminds me of when we thought Naruto had been killed, right?"

"Guy-sensei!" All three of them tackled Guy at once, knocking the big man over and onto his butt. "You're alive!" They didn't sound at all angry about being deceived as they clung to their sensei with bone-crushing hugs.

"Hey…come on, you three." Guy felt tears beginning to pool under his eyes. "If you are this emotional, you might make me cry too." Tears immediately sprang from his eyes after finishing that sentence. He returned the hug to his students, stood high in the air and swung the three of them around. "I thought I was never going to see you again!"

Every Shinobi watched with an amused smile on their face as they witnessed the joyous reunion between the sensei and his students. Every single one of them was exhausted, covered in scratches, and bruises and close to running out of chakra. Hundreds of their men had been killed and countless buildings and streets had been destroyed beyond repair. Yet to all these smiling, laughing, and even crying Shinobi, none of that was on their mind. There was only one thing they all knew at that moment.

They had won.


	33. The Hard Work Goes On

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_The Hard Work Goes On_

* * *

"_Let me out…Naruto!"_

The blond boy shot up immediately from his bed, gasping for breath and covered in sweat. "What the hell was that?" Naruto brought his hand to his forehead and wiped the sweat away.

"Not sleeping well?" Naruto jumped lightly in surprise at the sound of the unfamiliar voice. He turned and was surprised to see Dosu shifting through his drawers.

"…and what do you think you're doing?" Naruto asked hotly as he got up and stepped to the other side of the room hurriedly. He snatched the set of cloths that Dosu had set on the ground.

"Hey!" Dosu rounded on the boy. "You said last night that I could use these for today!"

"I did?" Nothing was making sense to the blond at the moment. Everything in his head felt all jumbled.

Dosu gave him a strange look. "You feeling alright?" He asked as he got to his feet. "Last night you agreed to let me stay here. I am on Haku-san's team as a Konoha Genin now."

Naruto recalled something like that now that he mentioned it. "Right, sorry about that. My head just feels kind of fuzzy is all." Naruto admitted as he scratched his hair and slowly ambled out into the living room. He walked straight through and then opened the door and walked out onto the balcony to get some fresh air.

He looked over the streets of Konoha and was relieved to see that everything looked like it hadn't been too damaged in this area. He couldn't believe the damage the outer parts of the village had taken during the invasion that had happened just yesterday.

The entirety of the gates had been completely torn down and now Konoha's streets stared straight out into the open wilderness of the outside world. But even worse, just before the gates almost nothing remained for at least five blocks and depending on the area, up to twenty blocks had been completely destroyed. Most of the houses and establishments that had once been there were now just craters, scorch marks or the rare pieces of wood. Almost nothing had been spared.

Thankfully, once you went farther in the damage was more than negligible. A few houses had been burnt down here and there and many windows and outside frames were badly damaged but for the most part, things would be easy to fix. Most importantly, there were hardly any reports of civilian casualties.

"Naruto-san?" Naruto turned to Haku who was also garbed completely in his Shinobi attire. He was looking at the blond with a look of concern. "Are you feeling well? You look pale."

"I'm fine. Just thinking about everything that had happened while I had been inside the barrier." Naruto turned back towards the streets and returned to gazing at the sun that has just risen over the horizon. The giant tree that the Shodai had created stood swaying proudly in his view.

Haku's footsteps clacked loudly against the wooden balcony as he joined Naruto at his side. "It was a well thought out invasion. The scariest part is, if he had actually extracted the Kyuubi it really might have worked."

At the mention of the fox, Naruto felt a terrible jab of pain in the back of his mind. "Yeah, good thing I'm such a great prison!" Naruto straightened himself out and attempted to laugh but it came out half-heartedly.

"Are you runts ready?" Zabuza appeared behind both of them, his completely repaired sword on his back.

"Uhh…not quite yet." Naruto said as he looked down at his pajamas.

"Hurry your ass up than." Zabuza sighed as he shook his head.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Naruto shouted and took a step forward. Zabuza glared down at him and was about to respond before Naruto's eyes widened and he seemed to realized what he had just said. "Sorry…I'm a little edgy." He mumbled before walking past the Jonin and into his apartment to get ready.

"Weird…" Zabuza mumbled as his eyes followed the retreating blonde's back. "…you think he would be a little more happy. I mean, I know a lot of people were hurt, but no one close to him died."

"Something is bothering him, that's for sure." Haku too was watching Naruto until he vanished into his room.

"Bothering Naruto-kun?" Both Haku and Zabuza turned their heads lightly to see Hinata standing a few feet away. She had a look of anxiety painted on her face. "What happened to him?"

Haku and Zabuza looked at each and then back at her. "We were opening you could tell us." Haku responded. "Ever since we got back from our mission he has been out of it. He looks like he is constantly lost inside his head and he's always snapping at everyone."

Hinata brought her finger to her lower lip as she thought about it. "Naruto-kun's seal suffered some damage in the battle yesterday." She mumbled after a few moments of hesitation. "It could be causing the swing in his behavior."

"Well I hope he gets it fixed soon." Dosu muttered as he too emerged onto the balcony, garbed in Naruto's usual green jacket and camouflaged pants. "I hardly know the kid and he's really starting to annoy me."

"I'll mention something to Hokage-sama." Hinata said quickly. "I'm sure he knows already but I'll tell him the effects are getting worse."

"We'll leave that to you." Zabuza placed his hand on Hinata's shoulder as he walked by. "We'll meet the two of you there."

Hinata nodded. "I'll see you three there." She said as Dosu and Haku also walked by her and continued on. She then took a couple big breaths before she took another couple steps forward and stopped outside of Naruto's door. Despite the fact that they had been going out for awhile, she had never actually set foot in his house. Now that she finally had the chance, she found it nerve-wracking.

She raised her foot to step in….and then. "Hinata!" She gave a small 'eep' and turned to see Lee running towards her. She knew she shouldn't have been surprised that Lee showed up since they agreed to meet here, but she felt like she had gotten caught sticking her hand into the cookie jar.

A moment later and she heard the door shut. She turned in surprise to see Naruto standing right there and was currently locking his door. "Sorry if I made you guys wait." Naruto gave them a half a smile. "We should probably get going, huh?"

"Yosh! Let us make due haste! I am eager to receive a mission now that everything has settled down!" Lee pumped his fist and the two boys began to amble away. Hinata stayed behind for a few moments, her eyes staring in shock at the door that was now closed. She had been so close to finally being inside only to have the chance robbed from her. What cruel fate she mourned before taking the thought back for fear of being like Neji. With a defeated look on her face, she followed after her teammates.

It didn't take them long to reach the Hokage Tower, but once inside of the old man's office, they kind of wished they had taken a detour. The room was packed full of people. The Hokage sat in his chair like normal and next to him sat someone they had never seen before, a young-looking blonde woman with a green diamond in the center of her forehead. Next to her was a brown-haired woman holding a pig. In front of the Hokage's desk stood the Kazekage of Sunagakure. Off to the left side were Zabuza, his three Genin and Guy was seated in the right side of the room but he looked rather subdued for some strange reason.

"What the hell is with all the people?" Naruto got every eye in the room to turn on his team. The Hokage and the blonde woman had been arguing quietly until a moment ago but they stopped when Naruto had spoken up.

"So that's him, huh?" The Kazekage said with mild curiosity as he eyed Naruto.

"What if it is?" Naruto asked back but immediately had two hands, one from either teammate over his mouth.

"I think you misunderstood me." The Kazekage said as he slowly began to approach Naruto. "I was simply curious to meet the boy that had defeated my son in battle." Naruto's mouth remained covered but his eyes grew significantly darker as he realized who this man really was. This caused the Kazekage to smirk slightly.

He then turned back to the Hokage. "I will be sure to send a messenger bird to our Daimyo to inform him of the new arrangements to our villages' aliance, Hokage-dono. Provided you honor your end of the arrangement of course."

The Hokage nodded his head solemnly. "You will be taking your leave then?"

"Yes." The Kazekage turned towards his daughter. "Temari, it is time to go." He turned and began to walk out but stopped when he realized she wasn't following after him. "What is it?" He asked as he turned back towards her. She seemed to be fidgeting nervously. "Your mission to keep an eye on the village until Orochimaru made his move has ended, it's time to go home."

Temari closed her eyes and bowed her head. "Dad, I want to stay here in Konoha!" She shouted at the top of her lungs. The Kazekage's eyes widened but before he could respond, Temari continued. "The team I'm a part of has just been completed. They would need to find a new member if I left."

The Kazekage appeared to mull his daughter's excuse over in his head for a few minutes. He then turned back towards the Hokage. "Make sure she is well taken care of."

Temari's head shot up."Then you'll-"

"I am not pleased with the idea, but if this is what you want, then so be it. After all, this is the first village Gaara ever created a bond with as well." The Kazekage gave Naruto a sideways glance. "I want progress reports from you every week and a note every time you leave the village on a mission."

"O-of course!" Temari nodded to the term immediately.

"Very well than, my subordinates are waiting. We have our own share of the dead to take care of from this invasion." Having said that, the Kazekage turned and left the office.

The old man let out a long tired sigh and pulled out his pipe, lighting it up quickly. It had been forever since he had been able to smoke. It would have been rude of him to do it with his foreign guests in the room but now that they were gone he could finally begin to loosen up a little. "Well then, onto my next order of business." He said after he exhaled a large amount of smoke.

"That would be us, sir." Zabuza said as he took his place in front of the Hokage.

"Now then, most Shinobi are taking a break from missions today to mourn. While there is no funeral being held if you have someone you lost, I ask you to go visit them. If not, I will give your team a mission if you want one. The village is in great need of repairs after all."

"We want a mission." Zabuza said without delay.

This caused the Hokage to smile. "I figured you would say something like that. So I have the perfect one for your team that shut down Zaku. The thing is, his broken bodies are littered all over the village. I would like you to start picking them up and throw them in the incinerator. We'll be using the melted metal to create all kinds of weapons."

"What kind of mission is that?" Dosu asked incredulously. Having not been a part of an actual village before he wasn't really familiar with how missions worked.

"A D-rank one." Zabuza sighed tiredly. "Someone has got to do it though. This is what I get for taking a team of Genin." As he said this he was already leading his team out the door.

"Alright, old man, you've kept me waiting long enough." The blonde woman tapped her fingers on the desk irritably. "Why did you send that pervert after me just to drag me back here? Furthermore, how did you know where I would be?"

"They don't call me the Professor for nothing. Also, you were my student once. Don't forget that, Tsunade." Upon saying the woman's name, both Lee and Hinata let out a small gasp of surprise.

"You're Tsunade, one of the Sannin?" Hinata couldn't believe she was meeting one of the three legendary ninja.

"How is it that you appear most youthful?" Lee asked almost immediately after.

A throbbing vein appeared in the side of Tsunade's head. "What do you mean by appear?"

"Well…I mean-" Lee's mouth was suddenly covered by Guy's hand who had appeared behind his team instantly.

"Don't say anything to make her mad." Guy whispered into Lee's ear. "Her strength is legendary as is her temper. I have been on the receiving end once today." That explained Guy's unusual quiet behavior. When Guy let go of Lee's mouth he smiled at Tsunade as innocently as he could. "He of course meant you are blazing with such youth that not even the sun could compare!"

"Really? She looks like an old hag to me." Guy and Lee dropped their faces. They should have known Naruto would say something like that.

Before anyone could react a chair flew across the room and smashed into Naruto, knocking him over. "I'm leaving." The vein that throbbed on Tsunade's head looked ready to explode.

"Please stay, Tsunade." The Hokage stood up from his desk. "Doesn't the fact that the tree brought him back to life interest you at all?" He gestured towards Guy.

"That tree created by my grandfather is the only reason I am here at all. If I can find a way to reproduce its effects do you know the lives that could be saved?" She whirled on her sensei.

"Then stay, help your village like you were meant to." Sarutobi was practically begging her.

"Tsunade-sama….please." The brown-haired woman finally spoke up. The pig oinked in agreement.

"Tch, fine." Tsunade said as she walked up to Guy. "Come with me to the hospital. I want to run some tests on you."

Guy rubbed the back of his head as he gazed at her nervously. "Well, you see…I hate hospitals…"

"Now!"

"Yes ma'am." Guy followed both women and the pig out of the room without another word of protest but before that he turned to his team. Naruto was on the ground rubbing his face and Hinata was worriedly leaning over him. Lee stood just next to them both. "Report to our training ground at the usual time. It's been about a month since we've trained there but I would like to jump into old habits as soon as possible." After getting a nod from Lee, he vanished before Tsunade could yell at him again.

Sarutobi massaged his forehead for a long time. "Almost over, this is almost over." He kept repeating to himself.

"Should we come back later, Hokage-sama?" Hinata asked politely as she helped Naruto to his feet.

"No, no. That's alright." The old man shook his head as he stared at Team Guy. "It's just been a stressful past few weeks. It always is with the Chunin Exams but the invasion yesterday has made the headache just that much worse." He sighed again. "Talking to you three has been something I've been rather looking forward too, actually. It'll probably be a much more pleasant experience than dealing with either of my students."

"Why is that old hag here anyways?" Naruto asked as he sorely rubbed his head.

"She is a top level medical ninja. I need her here for help in getting us back on our feet. Not only that, but I want her to study the Shodai's tree that not only defended our civilians but revived your Sensei. If only she wasn't such a pain about it." The Hokage grumbled that last sentence.

"So what is it you would like to ask of us?" Lee asked excitedly.

"Yes, you remember the client for your first C-rank mission, Tazuna, correct?" All three of them nodded. "He is in charge of repairing the walls of the village and he specifically asked for your team's assistance. It is of course D-rank pay but I would like you three to help him in this mission."

"Of course! We would be honored to start right away!" Lee said as he gave the Hokage his thumbs up.

"Excellent, but before that, there are a couple things I want take care of with you three first." Sarutobi placed his pipe down as he dug through his desk for some papers. "Lee, Neji informs me that while inside the barrier you bested him in a one on one battle."

Lee rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I guess I did. He was being controlled by Kabuto, however."

"Neji has also informed me of that. He says that regardless of whether he had been in control or not, he believes you would have won the battle." The three Genin shared a look of confusion.

"I am not sure where you are going with this Hokage-sama." Lee admitted after it was clear the others had no idea either.

"Ah, yes of course." The Hokage had forgotten. None of the Genin were aware of the bet that had changed their lives so drastically and in consequence, also didn't know of the conditions. "Rock Lee, I believe that your performance in the past Chunin Exams was worthy of being receiving the promotion."

"What?" Naruto was the first to respond in a way that surprised the Hokage. He had asked in a voice of disbelief. The others turned to him and he seemed to raise his own eyebrows in surprise at his outburst.

"…Is there a problem, Naruto?" The Hokage asked after he got over his own surprise. It had been a long time since Naruto had done something like that in front of him.

Naruto appeared to mull over his thoughts for a few moments before he finally opened his mouth. "It's not fair." He mumbled under his breath.

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked in surprise.

Naruto looked up and his eyes showed with resolve. "We worked just as hard as Bushy Brow so why is it that he gets promoted and not us? Just cause he has a year on us? We both would have been knocked out if I was a couple inches taller and Hinata probably would have won her fight if she hadn't forfeited!"

"Naruto." Sarutobi said with his voice laced with disappointment. "I expected better from you as a Shinobi of this village."

Those words caused Naruto to widen his eyes. "I…what did I…" Before anyone could react he turned and fled out the door.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata yelled as she ran after him, leaving a shocked looking Lee and Hokage.

He was running fast and she didn't manage to catch up to him until he was out of the tower and a small ways down the street. When she finally did she latched onto his hand with her own and held fast. "Naruto-kun! What is wrong with you? You're not being yourself today!"

"Leave me alone! You can't understand!" Naruto yelled as he tried to pull his own hand free.

"I can't if you don't tell me what's wrong! I'm your girlfriend so trust me!" Hinata begged as she refused to let go. People in the streets were beginning to gather around them.

"I said leave me alone!" Naruto swung his arm as strongly as he could, knocking Hinata over. She fell onto the ground on her butt. He looked at her with wide eyes for a couple of seconds. "Hinata…" He took a step towards her before he spun around and ran off.

"Naruto-kun!" He heard her shout but he didn't listen. He just kept running. Farther and farther he ran, weaving his way through the streets. Finally, after running for a full ten minutes, he collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.

"What is going on with me?" Sweat dripped down his face and dropped onto the ground. "Why does it hurt?" He was on his hands and knees on the ground and he reached for his seal that felt like it was on fire.

He closed his eyes in pain. Then he heard it. "Naruto…let me out of this cage!" He looked up and the giant cage was in front of him. The Kyuubi was glaring through it as always been this time it was different. The metal bars were melting and the fox had stuck a whole claw through it.

Naruto didn't like the look of this but he faked a look of confidence. "Not a chance. You're staying right here."

"You fool! You think you can keep me in here on your own?" The Kyuubi laughed loudly. "Your seal is weakening by the minute! Just hurry up and release me!"

"I've kept you in here on my own my whole life! I've always done it on my own!" Naruto yelled as he glared at the fox. Red chakra was swirling powerfully from the cage, stinging his face with the heat.

"On your own isn't enough anymore…and you've gone and cut yourself off from your friends. They can't be here to give you moral support like last time!" The Kyuubi roared as even more of his chakra blasted through the cage, blowing Naruto off his feet.

"Everything I was saying…that was because of you, wasn't it?" Naruto yelled as he attempted to get on his feet against the force of the malevolent chakra.

The Kyuubi laughed loudly. "It may be true that I prompted you to say those things aloud…however, they were your thoughts deep down! You can't blame me for that!"

"You bastard fox…is this how you thank me for putting up with you for thirteen years?" Naruto couldn't force himself back up. He was losing it. In the end Kabuto's little slash might have been enough.

"It's over, Naruto! You're blood won't work this time! You're going to die alone and then this village foolish enough to imprison me is going to follow!" The fox could finally sense it. His freedom.

"_Naruto has never been alone."_ A third voice said that startled them both. However, there was no one else present.

The malevolent chakra that was stinging Naruto's face calmed and quit leaking from the cage completely. The Kyuubi let out a roar of anger as its claw was shoved back and the bars slowly hardened again. "This isn't over Naruto! I'll get out yet!"

A moment later and Naruto's eyes shot open and he was lying on his back in the outside world. The seal no longer hurt and the headache he had had all morning was gone. The Kyuubi had been repressed. "How?" Naruto asked as he tilted his head up. His green jacket had been ripped open by the zipper and his seal…it had been fully repaired. It looked as good as new.

"Need a hand, kid?" The same voice that Naruto had heard inside his seal asked. Naruto looked straight up and saw a hand extended right in front of his face. He took it and was hefted easily to his feet by a tall man with long, spiky, white hair, an odd fashion sense, a giant scroll, and strange red markings on his face.

"Did you do this?" Naruto asked curiously. The older man smiled at him. Before Naruto was able to hear his response someone ran up to him.

"Naruto! Are you okay?" A middle aged civilian asked as he stopped in front of him. "I watched you collapse in the middle of the street."

"Uhh…who are you?" Naruto didn't mean to be rude but he didn't remember ever seeing this guy before.

"Is Naruto okay?" Someone else asked. He turned slowly and it was then that he finally realized it. He was surrounded by people. Every single one of them was giving him a look of concern.

"What…I don't understand." Naruto mumbled as he spun around and looked at them all. They were all looking at him with concern, not malice, hate, or disinterest, but general concern for his well being.

"Did you hit your head? You look kind of out of it." The first civilian asked as he raised his hand to Naruto's head.

"Maybe he is still suffering from his battle yesterday." Someone else suggested.

"Yeah, he did fight a tough battle to save us after all."

"Give him room everyone!" People were constantly throwing in their remarks and Naruto wasn't sure what was going on anymore. Just then he remembered the old guy who had fixed his seal. He turned to talk to him but realized he was gone.

"Where did he go…?"

"Naruto-kun!"

"Naruto!" Naruto recognized those voices. They were his teammates.

"Let them through!" A couple people shouted and a pathway opened to let Lee and Hinata get a straight shot to their teammate.

"Guys…" Naruto couldn't believe that after all the horrible things he had said, they still came running for him.

"Are you okay?" They asked as they made it into the center and stopped just in front of Naruto.

"Yeah…I'm fine. Some strange guy showed up and fixed my seal before disappearing." Naruto rubbed his head and stared awkwardly at his teammates. "You guys…I'm-"

"Do not even say it!" Lee said as he draped his arm over Naruto's shoulder. "We know you weren't yourself."

Hinata nodded and stepped closer to Naruto and embraced him gently. "It's not your fault, Naruto-kun."

A tear slid down Naruto's cheek as he looked between both his teammates. "Thanks, I love you guys." He tried to wipe the tear away before anyone noticed. The crowd that had been around them quickly seemed to disperse as everyone realized Naruto was okay.

"It is amazing how fast opinions change, huh?" Lee asked proudly as he stared around at the people of the village.

"I'm not sure I get it yet." Naruto said as he scratched his head.

"You mean you haven't heard?" Hinata asked as she stepped back from him.

"Heard what?" Naruto looked back and forth between both his teammates.

"The three of us are being called the heroes that saved the village from destruction. All over people are talking about our valiant battles not just in the tournament but how we defeated the leader of the invasion." Lee answered as he held his index finger up and waved it back and forth.

"We're heroes…us?" Naruto couldn't believe it. He slowly turned his gaze to the people around and one thing was true. They were all looking at them, but this time it wasn't to glare. There was respect…they approved of them. He slowly felt a smile coming to his face. He looked back to his teammates and then noticed something strange. "Bushy Brow…where's your Chunin Vest?"

Lee rubbed the back of his head. "Actually, I turned down the promotion."

"Not because of me, right?" Naruto suddenly felt terribly guilty.

Lee shook his head. "I would rather turn down the promotion and take the exam again than have you guys compete without me." He gave Naruto and Hinata both his thumbs up. "Team Guy sticks together!"

"Bushy Brow…"

"Besides, rank is hardly important at this stage in my youth. When I am older I of course want to be a Jonin that can pass on Guy-sensei's teachings, but for now being a Genin is just fine." Lee smiled happily at both his teammates. "Now I believe Hokage-sama gave us a mission. It is rounding nine so if we hurry we can beat the start of the new hour."

"Right!" Hinata and Naruto nodded and turned and followed behind their older teammate as they all walked at an enhanced pace.

Naruto peeked a look at Hinata as they walked. The two of them walked side-by-side and Lee took up the lead in front of them. He slowly, reached his hand over and grabbed hers. Hinata didn't even look over but accepted his hand happily in her own. If she had been upset about his previous behavior, she didn't show it. That wasn't good enough for him though. Someone had to yell at him for the way he had been acting.

"Hinata…"

"Lee-senpai already told you not to apologize." Hinata responded calmly as she turned her clear, beautiful eyes towards him. "As long as you're always there for me when I have my bad days, I'll be here when you have yours."

So much for that. Getting yelled at was clearing not happening. So instead he let out a happy sigh. "I was actually going to suggest we go on a date between this mission and our training later." So he settled for the next best thing. He would make it up to her, his way. "I heard of this awesome spot for picnics."

Hinata's face lit up at the suggestion. "I think that would be great. We haven't had a proper date since the Chunin Exams started."

"Look who it is!" The three of them heard Tazuna yell as they saw him waving excitedly at them. Inari was right in front of him waving just as much. "We got a lot of work to do, today! I hope you're ready to get started on getting this village back on its feet!"

All three of them nodded exaggeratedly. "You bet!"

* * *

Hours had gone by and Team Guy, mostly thanks to Naruto's clones had made excellent progress on the first part of the walls of Konoha. The three of them had been rather surprised at the how many of the other Shinobi had been present in the reconstruction of one part of the village or another. The Hokage had given everyone the day off for mourning and yet almost every Shinobi in the village had reported for duty. Everyone was eager to repair the village as fast as possible.

Now though, Hinata and Lee sat at Ichiraku's, looking out at the streets and enjoying the peaceful feeling of the day. It had been so long since they could actually relax and enjoy themselves without the thoughts of the Chunin Exam's hanging over them. The sun shone brightly and the streets were bristling as everyone appeared to be running around, taking care of one task or another. Even the civilians jumped in to help with the repairs.

Naruto had run off to take care of things, the first was to apologize to the Hokage but not before he promised to be back to take Hinata on their date. She had immediately run home herself and had prepared their food and also brought a basket and cloth for them to use. She now sat with both of them in her lap.

"You never would have guessed we had been under attack yesterday." Ayame said as she leaned her head over the counter. "Everyone seems so lively."

"Their flames of youth are burning brightly as we all work to repair the damage that was done!" Lee said as he pumped his fists into the air.

"It's good for business, that's for sure!" Teuchi said happily as he handed a couple more bowls of ramen to the customers at the other end of the stall. "With them all working so hard I'm getting more business than ever! Of course, having the heroes of the village here helps." He gave the two Genin a wink before he began preparing more ramen.

"Someone say something about me?" Naruto asked as he slid into the stand.

Ayame shook her head. "Hero for half a day and it's already gone to your head."

"Let him enjoy it, he's waited for this day a long time." Teuchi laughed as he nodded towards his favorite customer. "I'd offer you some ramen on the house, but I hear you have a hot date planned."

"Just save it for next time!" Naruto said as he extended his hand towards Hinata. She took it and he hefted her off her seat. "I'll definitely be hungry after Guy-sensei's work out!"

"Are you going to meet me at the training field?" Lee asked before they left.

"I actually have a feeling Guy-sensei is still going to be in the hospital. That hag seems like the type to keep him all day. So go ahead and meet us there." Naruto and Hinata both gave one last wave before they exited the stand and began walking down the streets.

The sun shined so brightly that Hinata raised her hands over top of her head to block it out slightly. "It's such a good day for a picnic." She turned her head to Naruto and wasn't surprised to see he didn't seem to have heard her at all. He was completely engrossed in all the looks people were giving him. She couldn't help but smile. He had finally been accepted and that made her happy.

"Oh, right!" Naruto said as he suddenly stopped walking. "I forgot, the place I'm taking you too is a secret until we get there, so put your headband over your eyes." As he said this he took the basket and cloth from her. "…and no using your Byakugan."

"How will I get there though?" Hinata asked as she obeyed his command anyways.

"I'll carry you, duh!" Just as she covered her eyes she felt Naruto lift her off her feet and carry her like one would a princess. "What about the basket?" Hinata was blushing heavily. They probably looked rather strange in the streets.

"No problems, no problems! I have a clone holding that!" Hinata felt Naruto kick off the ground and land on the roof of a building. He was then jumping to them in a completely random pattern, throwing off her sense of direction so she had no idea where they were heading. He had planned that pretty well.

However, in a few minutes, she felt the wind pick up greatly as she felt them ascend higher and higher into the air. She began to wonder if he was taking her up the Hokage Monument. "We're here!" Naruto yelled proudly as he finally stopped. "Watch your step, we're pretty high up." He said as he gently let her to her feet.

When she was on the ground she dropped her headband down so it was around her neck like normal and let out a small gasp at the sight she saw. They both stood on top of one of the highest branches of the now tallest tree in existence. She had no fear of falling off either for the girth of the giant branch they stood on but the sight nearly caused her to slip to her knees.

One could see for miles and miles up here, farther than her Byakugan could possibly let her see by easily a few hundred times. All the forests of the Land of Fire and even some neighboring villages were visible to her. "Naruto-kun…this place is amazing." She whispered as the wind gently blew at her hair.

"I know, right? I thought you would like this." Naruto had already laid the cloth out and was sitting on the branch with the picnic basket next to him. His clone was nowhere to be seen. She gingerly sat down next to him, still taking in all of the scenery.

"How have things been with your clan?" Naruto asked, suddenly serious. His question completely ripped Hinata from her thoughts of the world around them.

She thought about her answer quietly for a minute. "Much better." She finally admitted. "When I returned home, they all welcomed me back with praise for both my achievements in the tournament and during the invasion. I…I think they respect me a little more now and are starting to look to me like a heiress and not just a failure."

Naruto nodded quietly and seemed to think his next words out carefully, something that surprised Hinata. "You remember that vow we made to each other the day we went around looking for a date for Bushy Brow?"

Hinata nodded. She would never forget it, that had been one of the most important days of her life. Naruto then continued talking. "I think we've just taken an important step towards accomplishing our goals. Even without getting the titles we've definitely earned the respect of a ton of people. Maybe not everyone but they'll come around."

Hinata again nodded. "We've come so far since that day. I remember thinking back then how much had changed in a week. But now look how much has changed in these past few months."

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I never thought I would be going out with you, that's for sure." He stopped but then seemed to realize that he should add more. "It's been one of the best things that ever happened. I'm glad you confessed to me when you did."

Hinata twiddled her thumbs as she thought of her clumsy confession and his following response. "It hadn't really been intentional. I had been so worked up between killing so many people and having thought you died. I'm still not sure I entirely forgive Haku-san."

This caused Naruto to chuckle. "He's not such a bad guy. You should be grateful to him for not killing me at all. I know I am. Besides, he helped us out a little during the Chunin Exams as our proctor."

"I suppose I do also owe him for all his help." Hinata tapped her chin lightly as she mentioned this, something Naruto found incredibly cute.

"Yeah, exactly. So hurry up and forgive him. It's awkward if my friends don't get along." Naruto nodded happily to himself.

"Oh, I see." Hinata said, a hint of playfulness in her voice. "You think of me as much as you think of Haku. I should have known since he looks so feminine."

"W-what?" Naruto stood up suddenly, waving his hands in protest. "It's not like that! I-I just meant you're both my precious to me is all. I mean…" Naruto was beginning to panic as he tried to get his point across.

Hinata giggled as she pulled at Naruto's pant leg. He crouched down next to her and she leaned into him. "I know what you mean, Naruto-kun." She whispered before pressing her mouth to his. Naruto's eyes widened in surprise for just a fraction of a second before he closed them and returned her kiss. They sat that way for a few moments before pulling apart, half opening their eyes as they did.

At that moment, the worst possible moment, Naruto's stomach growled and he dropped his head in shame. A total mood killer but what could he say? He had hardly eaten today.

Hinata only giggled before opening up the picnic basket. "Let's eat."

* * *

"Lee! Save me from this place!" Guy threw himself at his student's feet the moment he walked into the hospital room that his sensei had been in.

"Guy-sensei?" Lee asked in concern as he bent down and looked at him. "What kind of horrendous experiments have they been performing on you in this most unyouthful place?"

"All kinds of terrible things, Lee!" Guy was practically crying as he pulled himself to his feet by Lee's spandex. "They make me sit still and day and don't allow me to talk at all! They're robbing me of my youth!"

Lee let out a loud gasp. "Those fiends! Fear not, Guy-sensei, I shall free you from this place at once!" Before either of them could move they heard the sound of cracking knuckles. They both slowly turned around to see Tsunade glaring evilly.

"Just get the hell out of here already!" They didn't need to be told twice. They were out of the room and down the hall in less than half a second. They stopped just outside of the door leading them to freedom as it slid open automatically at an agonizingly slow pace. Finally, it was open enough for them both to shoot through and in that split second they nearly ran smack into their other teammates.

"Guy-sensei?" Both Hinata and Naruto asked with worry in their eyes. Their sensei looked half mad as he and Lee grabbed onto them and pulled them away from the hospital.

"I'm never going back there, ever!" Guy bellowed at the top of his lungs, easily making his voice heard all over Konoha.

"Just what the hell happened in there?" Naruto asked as he finally broke himself free from his sensei's grip.

"Unspeakable things! Do not even repeat it Guy-sensei!" Lee released Hinata and practically began weeping.

"Man…what a couple of weirdoes." Naruto sighed as he and Hinata shared a smile.

"They are our weirdoes though." Hinata said as she turned to each of them. "How about we exercise as hard as possible so we can respark your flames of youth?"

"Hinata! You are such a bright student!" Guy finally seemed to be calming down. "Let us hurry! The sun is just setting and I need to do something youthful this instant!" A second later and he vanished, presumably off to their training grounds.

"Well, better hurry after him." Naruto said as he, Hinata and Lee all vanished just a couple moments later. They all reached the training ground in less than a minute but to their surprise, Guy stood just outside of its boundaries. He was staring into it with a look of shock.

They all saw why immediately after. Twelve other Genin were in the training ground and they all appeared to be waiting patiently for something. Guy shook his head off and slowly walked into the grounds, followed by his students.

"Can I help you all?" He asked loudly and instantly he had the attention of all twelve of the other Genin.

"Ah, there you are, Guy-sensei." Haku walked forward and bowed to him. "I brought my teammates along to engage in our usual exercise. I hope its okay." Guy opened his mouth but no words came out. For the first time in his life he was truly speechless.

Temari and Dosu took this as their time to step up. The former Suna Kunoichi spoke first. "Haku speaks highly of you and your training method. It is rare that people impress him so I would be honored if you would include me."

Dosu spoke next. "I know I was an enemy to your village until yesterday, but it is actually thanks to your student and Haku, who you also trained, that I came around. I am interested in learning the ways of youth that you have taught them both."

Before Guy could answer them Shikamaru lazily walked forward, followed by both his teammates. "Your morning practices were a real drag but I can't say they didn't help. I decided to start doing this too. The Forest really showed me how much farther I need to go to improve."

"I'm just here because Shikamaru asked me to come." Choji said next happily as he munched on some chips.

Ino rubbed her arm and averted her eyes lightly. "Hinata really impressed me at the tournament…I figured I'd give it a try and hopefully become a little like her. It may be the first time I've been jealous of another girl."

Next Team Eight stepped forward. "Naruto showed us how bad we sucked in the forest and I'm ready to dedicate myself heart and soul to show him that we can be just as strong as he can." Akamaru barked in agreement with Kiba.

Shino adjusted his glasses with his only arm. "I am hoping that as a Taijutsu expert you can help me overcome my handicap of only having one arm. Your intense training could very well save my life some day."

"I just don't want to be a burden anymore." Sakura whispered quietly. "I want to be stronger so I can protect my village the way you did yesterday."

Finally, Neji, Sasuke, and Tenten walked forward. "I know Neji and I weren't crazy about your insane training methods in the past, but we're ready to give it a try. It worked so well for these three after all." Tenten gave them all a huge smile.

Sasuke huffed loudly as he looked up at Guy. "I need to get stronger. It's thanks to Naruto and Hinata that I now clearly see the best way to do that. Please let me go through your exercise routine."

Neji, the last one to speak let out a long breath. "…Lee told me a lot of things. I now know that it is possible to overcome any obstacle in your path if you truly reach for it. That's what I want to do from now on. I want to reach forward and take control of my own fate. Guy-sensei, I am sorry for having doubted you before."

"Everyone…" Guy felt his eyes brim with tears as he looked over at all fifteen Genin he had assembled before him. Their eyes were alight with youth and he knew they had what it took.

He spun around and pointed dramatically at the sun that was beginning to set over the village.

"Let's all become Geniuses of Hard Work together!"


	34. For Better or Worse

**Geniuses of Hard Work**

_Epilogue: For Better or Worse_

* * *

Night had once again long since fallen over the village of Konoha. Most of the village had shut their lights off and had gone to sleep after the exhausting day of having to repair the damage that had been caused by the invasion. However, one light still burnt brightly in the top of the Hokage Tower and three people sat awake inside.

Iruka found himself questioning why this was so. He had always been a good man, trying his hardest to be good and keep his nose clean. He had worked extra hard today repairing the streets that had caved in, leaving the disgusting smell of the sewers out in the open. So why was it that he was here at three in the morning with Might Guy of all people?

He unfortunately knew exactly why. He had been a third party witness in what had been one of the most unorthodox team formations ever. He had been forced to stay up late that night back then for the same reason he was still up now.

Hatake Kakashi.

The man was late…again. Not that it should have been any surprise at this point. He was always late. It never changed. Iruka couldn't particularly blame him this time either. He had lost after all. Guy had been bouncing around the room excitedly for about an hour and a half but for the past hour he had been standing on his hands quietly in the corner. Something Iruka was extremely grateful for. His headache was bad enough without the man screaming all over the place.

Finally, after nearly three long hours, a pop followed by a poof of smoke alerted Iruka, Guy, and the Hokage to Kakashi's presence. "Yo!" The silver-haired man said as he stepped out of the smoke, his one revealed eye smiling for him.

The Hokage smiled, not at all perturbed by Kakashi's tardiness. "So what kept you this time Kakashi?"

"You know, had to rescue a tree from a cat…wait." Kakashi raised his hand to his face and seemed to ponder his own statement in a manner that seemed incredibly nostalgic to Iruka, and not in a good way.

"I hope you are ready, Kakashi!" Guy couldn't contain his silence any longer, much to Iruka's further frustration. "The time has finally come!"

"Oh, Guy, when did you get here?" The Copy Ninja asked with his face buried deeply in his orange book.

"Damn!" Guy threw his hands into the air. "I can't stand that hip attitude of yours! It drives me insane! Were it not three in the morning I would challenge you to youthful combat! Alas, even I need to recharge my battery at night!"

"Do we really need to repeat that night word for word?" Iruka came between both men as he shouted. "Things have changed drastically and yet you act like it is all exactly the same as it was on that night months ago!" He looked back and forth between everyone.

"Iruka is right." The Hokage said, finally laying down his pipe. Iruka sighed in relief; finally someone was on his side. "If we are going to repeat the last time properly Guy needs to start outside of the office and kick the door in." Iruka fell to the floor an instant later.

"You all hate me, don't you…" He whimpered quietly from the ground.

At those words, Sarutobi gave a long needed laugh. With all the stress he had been building up from the past few weeks he was really thankful for the relaxing atmosphere. Iruka was right of course, things had changed drastically. Yet some things would always be the same and he hoped moments like this would continue for a long time to come.

"It is time we got down to business." He said after he finally managed to stifle his laughter. Iruka slowly got back to his feet and took his place in the chair that he had been sitting in before. Guy and Kakashi walked to either side of him and stood staring straight at the Hokage. "Guy, as I'm sure you noticed, Lee has not been promoted to Chunin."

"Yes, my student has informed me that he turned down the promotion." Guy said with a small hint of pride in his surprise. Iruka however looked completely flabbergasted by this revelation.

"Turned it down? Why would he turn down the promotion?" He really couldn't understand Guy or his crazy look-a-like at all.

"Lee informed me he would like to remain a Genin so he can repeat the exams with his teammates. While it is very uncommon of course for someone to turn down the promotion it is not unheard of." Sarutobi slowly rose to his feet, the bones in his body cracking audibly as he did.

"Does this mean that not a single Genin has been promoted to Chunin?" Kakashi already knew the answer, but he was interested in the Hokage's response all the same.

"While that may be true, I do not feel it is of much concern. It is just a rank after all." Sarutobi picked up his pipe and slowly began to walk to the other side of his desk. "There were seven Konoha Genin, if we count Kinuta Dosu, and they all performed incredibly well. The fact is, our village showed great promise and I think we may be looking at a surplus of assignments in these coming months. The teams that performed are easily Chunin rank as it is. Even if they do not hold the rank I think we can see fit to assign them to higher rank missions from now on."

"I think I would prefer we keep them in here for awhile." Guy had an anxious smile as he rubbed the back of his head. "No matter where my team goes disaster seems to be following them around."

"Yet they beat that disaster away with all the hard work you've put into them. I doubt you have much to worry about." Kakashi nodded his head slightly in Guy's direction as he complimented him.

"Huh? You say something?" Guy asked, his face buried deeply inside a very familiar looking orange book.

"If you are going to imitate him, at least have the decency to not hold the book upside-down." Iruka rubbed the scar on his face as he shook his head.

Guy took a quick look at the front and saw he indeed had it upside down. "Damn it! How do you do it, Kakashi? How is it you are so hip without even trying?" Guy said as he tossed the book back to his rival.

"Lots of hard work." Kakashi replied smoothly as he caught the book with ease.

"Are either of you ever serious?" Iruka couldn't believe that the two strongest Jonin in the whole village behaved this way every time he saw them. Maybe there was a pattern to this. Could it be the stronger you were, the weirder you became? If that were true, Iruka was quite fine at his current level of strength. He liked being normal, thank you very much.

"Now then, it is time for the bet to be closed completely." Sarutobi interrupted Iruka's train of thought. They all turned back to him with their full attention. "Even if we ignore the fact that Lee and Neji's fight was unofficial, Guy is still the distinct winner as three of his students made it to the second round while only one of Kakashi's did. Would you say this sounds right, Iruka?"

"M-me?" Iruka pointed to himself in surprise. "I guess, that sounds fair to me."

Sarutobi nodded. "In that case, I pronounce Might Guy the winner of the bet and Kakashi, as punishment you will show him what is beneath your mask."

"Yes!" Guy shouted so loudly that Iruka was sure the neighbors had woken up.

"Well darn…I guess there is no choice." Kakashi sighed as he turned to Guy, his hand on his mask.

Guy was practically on the tips of his toes in anticipation. At long last, the secret to Kakashi's face would be his.

Iruka, despite his best efforts, couldn't keep himself from looking at the Copy Ninja's face with the utmost curiosity. After all, it was completely normal to want to know what was behind Kakashi's mask. Especially since he went through so much trouble to always hide it.

Sarutobi meanwhile took another inhale of his pipe. The smallest of smirks was on his face, as if he already saw what was coming next.

"Underneath my mask…" Kakashi began to pull lightly at his mask and Iruka and Guy both leaned in closer.

"…is another mask!" Kakashi pulled his first mask down to reveal yet another one.

Silence, complete silence fell across the room as Guy and Iruka stared at Kakashi's still masked face with open mouths and wide eyes. "Well then, if there is nothing else. I'll be off." Kakashi placed his first mask up and vanished in a poof of smoke a moment later.

Finally, Guy seemed to regain his composer and he turned to the old man. "Hokage-sama!" Guy drawled loudly as he threw himself at the man's feet. Meanwhile, Iruka collapsed to the ground in a heap of disbelief. How stupid he had been, getting his hopes up like that. He should have known better with this group. They really did hate him after all.

"What is it, Guy?" Sarutobi asked as innocently as he could, fighting off the urge to laugh.

"H-he…the bet…his face…my dreams…" Guy continued to fumble out nonsense for a good couple of minutes before the Hokage finally decided to answer him.

"The agreement of the bet was he would show you what was under his mask. If you wanted to see his face you should have mentioned that instead. I thought looking underneath the underneath was one of the first things you taught Naruto."

Guy slowly rose to his feet, his eyes hidden by his bangs. When he looked up they were lit ablaze. "Damn you Kakashi!" He shouted so loud that he knew the man had to be able to hear him. "I want another bet! This time show me behind both masks!" An instant later and Guy was gone.

Sarutobi chuckled as he walked back to his desk and sat down. "This certainly has made for an interesting night."

"Do you think it was for the best?" Iruka asked as he got back to his feet.

"The best?" Sarutobi asked, curious of what Iruka meant.

"The trade, that is." Iruka clarified as he took his seat. "I mean, do you think things would have been worse had Guy never come in that night and Naruto ended up under Kakashi?"

Sarutobi twirled his pipe around in his hands. "I can't really say how drastically that moment altered the course of history. One can never know what could've been. The fact is, for better or worse, things are different and our lives have been changed." The sound of Guy screaming from somewhere in the village reached the ears of both Shinobi. "Yes…" Sarutobi repeated with a small smile.

"…for better or worse."

* * *

**The End**


End file.
